Chick to Pullet
The chicks have rapidly developed and their adult feathers are coming in as the fuzz is falling out as they go from chick to pullet or cockerel. The cute peeping has turned into a variety of sounds with plenty of squawking mixed in. The task of cleaning the brooder has also changed quite a bit. Chickens poop everywhere and constantly! For some reason, I assumed smaller creatures would equal less to clean up. This is not the case and it has to be because their appetites have also grown. In fact, squawking and eating are how they spend the majority of their waking hours. I will be glad to see them head out of the brooder and into the coop full time!
This is when you can begin to determine if the chickens are going to be a pullet (young hen) or cockerel (young rooster). Barred Rock chickens do have indications when they are chicks but its not 100 percent accurate. Male chicks have a larger, longer white spot on their head compared to females. We noticed this spot on 9 of the chicks with five having a noticibly larger spot then the other four. The tenth chick did not have any spot at all but otherwise looks the same as the rest.
Chick Predictions
Looking at the clues from the spots alone, I believe that half will be male and half female. That many cockerels mean that one will get to stay and the rest will head off to freezer camp. If there are more pullets, we will keep them all for eggs. However, someone will have to build a bigger chicken coop and run. I have not mentioned this to my dear husband yet. First, we need to see what the chick to pullet to cockerel split is!
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