suehiggi Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Hello. We have three pekin bantam chicks that hatched and they are seven weeks old now. I have noticed two of them 'standing up to each other' in a cockerel kind of way for a week or so. Today they were fighting really bad and I have had to take one away in a seperate run. Is it too soon to say they are boys for sure or can you tell by their behaviour. I am going to have to return the chick to its m and the other two chicks tonight as I have no where else to put it. Was hoping they were hens because ' mum' is the last of three hens we got four years ago and I wanted her to have company! Any advice on how to deal with this would be great. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonetog Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Can't help with the behaviour, but I do know that you can expect roughly 70/30 split male/female. So it's quite likely you have a hen and 2 cockerels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dance in the dark Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 I don't know about a 70/30 split. the typical figure given is a 50/50 split, but even then you can end up with all cockerels or all hens, there's no telling. In terms of sexing them you should be able to sex pekins by 7 weeks old, boys, from what I know, normally become pretty obvious pretty quickly especially in terms of wattle development. Try uploading some pics? Also, in terms of fighting, it doesn't necessarily indicate cockerels, hens can be quite squabbley. In fact my most recent hatch was a boy and three girls, and the boy was just de facto leader and the girls all spent their time fighting over who was second in command. Fights and minor violence is normal as the establish a pecking order, it is only if their is injury that separate quarters become necessary. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonetog Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 70/30 came from my local breeder, who is really living the dream, he's made to do this stuff. He sells fertilised eggs and I asked him if I could expect 50/50 to which he laughed and said it's closer to 70/30. He's always got batches of chicks about the place. He basically lost a sale telling me about the split, I couldn't dispatch all of those males Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Officially its50/50 it couldn't be anything else really! Peoples own experiences vary, I hatch many many batches a year and always get more female Wyandottes than males (38 females 2 males in one batch- a real pain as I wanted males!) but more male Welsummers than females but a different breeder will have a different story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi5 Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Hi there! You should be able to sex pekins at 7 weeks! The boys head gear develops SO much quciker and reddens up too!! I hatched my first chicks this summer and have pekin bantams. I got in the first hatch (my own eggs 100%) 3 boys 1 girl, second hatch (bought eggs) 2 girls 1 boy. I like you was very worried beacause the chicks were fighting and indeed I had 3 boys in that group!!! They have all gone to new homes now...phew!! Just have a lovely lemon cuckoo (or buff not sure!) boy left from the second hatch (oh but he's so cute!!) But probably need to re-home him...he's crowing a bit in the morning! Post some pics and I'm sure lots of people will help you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suehiggi Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Thank you for your help. I put the chick back last night and things were a little quieter. I will try and post some pictures of them to see if anyone has an idea if they are boys or girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pekin Person Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I hatched 8 pekin bantams in July, they have been squabbling from the start and I know now I have 3 boys & 5 girls, but they were all doing the fighting, so I would say it doesnt mean they are boys and its perfectly normal. You can def tell the sex at 7 weeks, post some pics! x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
