Chicken bald back

[smudgley]

OK, just to refresh your memory, I bought 6 young light sussex from a poultry sale in June (they were only a few weeks old)

4 of them were definitely cockerals & I had to take them back to the sale last week as they were getting very noisy. We thought the other2 were probably hens as they looked more girly & smaller, no big posh tail feathers & a very small comb.

 

2 days after the sale, the one grows a comb, looks all big & butch & went "cock-a-doodle-do" I can't believe it! So I will have to go back there this week & take him too!

 

I wonder if the person who sold the 6 youngsters knew that at least 5 of them were boys! Or if we have just been very unlucky!

 

KNowing my luck, the 6th one is probably a male too, just a bit immature.

[xChicken04x]

How anoying!!! I heard that somtimes hens copy a noise they hear everyday e.g your cockerels. Like what parots do

good luck with him/her

 

xx

[smudgley]

Oh!

 

Well I reckon he's a fella, but honestly the 2 of them looked so different from the other 4 last week & suddenly the one has changed & developed a bigger comb & started crowing.

[xChicken04x]

oh dear....dare i ask about the last one???

[smudgley]

We are sure that the yellow ringed one is a female, we have thought that for a while as she is smaller & looks like a girl, but then so did green ring last week.

 

I may just sell the 2 of them, I'm not sure what to do.

[xChicken04x]

Good luck with him/her anyway!!!

[feemcg]

I found the Sussex really easy to sex - the boys combs and wattles were much bigger, even at 2 weeks old. By 6 weeks it was definite. The 2 girls I kept are 14 weeks and still have tiny combs.

I had a girl Cream Legbar that 'changed' to a boy at 13 weeks - sexed as a girl at hatch, salmon breast etc, then suddenly developed a huge comb and tail feathers .