[traacyken]

i placed an ad on a well know site for hens only as they will be for pets and eggs for the garden. i got contacted by a local man saying he had some young 6-8week olds hens. i didnt get the breed as wanted a good size egg plus a nice looking hen as they are in the garden and neighbours think were mad already, without cocks crowing .fell in love with them and had them 2 weeks but got chatting to a guy at the local  auctions and he said that if there girls they will have a light coloured breast and mine are dark. i will try and put some pics below. im v upset as there lovely might be wrong but they all have v dark breast. there v sweet but i feel confused and angry if the guy was right, ive ended up with 4 cocks and not hens pls advise cant get pics to work will try and post in a min

[Foxy]

Dont panic yet!
Do you have a photobucket acccount? It is easy to paste pics from there to give enough detail to be able to sex them for you.
Can you remember what breed they are? and exactly how old are they now?
oh and of course a big welcome to the forum!!!

[traacyken]

hi thanx foxy ive tried to get pics on my photobucket account and in stuck as not used it for ages, new to this site could you poss let me know how to do it thanx x

[joyfull]

If not got photobucket then open your photo in paint, go to image, then go down to stretch/skew. Replace the top two boxes with 35%. I have to do this twice to get it to a size that this site accepts. Save your picture as a different name (so that when adding the attachment you will know what one to use). Then post  

[GrannieAnnie]

If you think they are cockerels Traacyken, can you not take them back to this chap if he is local?  I usually only get hens with the hybrids I raise and sell.  With the Amberlinks you get the occasional cockerel, but you can tell them at a realy early age, like 2-3 weeks.

I hae unscrupulous people that try to palm you off with what no one else wants!!!

[JuneFR]

there is another way you can tell.  From the back of the head the feathers will for a cockrel be pointed, for a hen they will be rounded.  This is a method that is generally used at poultry farms when selecting which bird is going to which area.  These should be clearly recognisable from about 8 weeks.  If you do have cockrels the option is to fatten them up (apologies if I am upsetting anyone, but its good food, and you know where it has come from and what has gone into the fatten method I used to use barley, corn dampened with milk).  Meat will be a little darker that a shop purchased variety but taste superb. 

I would also recommend that if you are buying hens that you purchase at point of lay, about 20 weeks, otherwise unless you have local support or are experienced with keeping chickens you may run into other issues.  Plus you are feeding birds that are not producing, eventhough you may be feeding them on all household scraps.  No onions and boil to soften any potatoe skins. 

Generally (dependant on breeder) these will be about 18 weeks, at about 22 weeks they should have settled and you should start getting eggs.  The first few may have soft shells if this is the case put in some oyster grit.  When a hen is laying an egg it is the equivalent of a woman giving birth to triplets!! 

[SMD66]

 

  When a hen is laying an egg it is the equivalent of a woman giving birth to triplets!! 
[/quote]

   poor things, no wonder they come out rosey

[Bruced]

So yesterday's double-yolker was like sextuplets? Wow - a little extra corn for Maud this afternoon methinks 

[matilda duck]

Hi traacyken, welcome to the forum.

As Foxy says don't panic yet!!! 
WE all have to start somewhere and as I've found out the only mistakes are those which we do not learn from!!
Get a photo on here if you can.  There is a whole load of knowledge on here This site is better than any book!!!!
once we have all determined what they are then we can advise you the best cores of action.

Well done for keeping chickens in the first place!!  Live and learn    sam x

[matilda duck]

I would also recommend that if you are buying hens that you purchase at point of lay, about 20 weeks, otherwise unless you have local support or are experienced with keeping chickens you may run into other issues. 

Hindsite is a wonderful thing!!!!!  We all have to learn somewhere...... no-one is born an experienced chicken keeper!!!!

[traacyken]

ha think ive done it! a pic of them, they look like wellsummers but have blue eyes, sorry new to this so mite be wrong

[matilda duck]

Hey well done the photo looks great!!!!!   They look beautiful birds!!!!  i'm not clever for sexing i'm affraid.  But the knowledge will be on here soon I can here her coming

[traacyken]

thanx everyone, was upset last night as im realy fond of them and they follow me all over and sit with me. i hope there girls i dont know what to do with them if there cocks, i live in a residential area so could not keep them, im going to get back on to that guy if they are, but if he would sell me them as hens in the first place im prob wasting my time with him.

[woodside farm]

I don't keep Welsummers but looking at the picture I would say cockerels, their combs look very big for that age, even on leghorns the hens combs aren't that big,
Sorry think you have been done, hope you didn't pay too much for them.

Michelle

[traacyken]

hi i paid £8 each for them