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Give me your tired….
….your poor….
….your huddled masses longing to be free….
This weekend, we brought home a box of new baby chicks from the little store in town. Four Golden Comets, four Rhode Island Reds, and four White Leghorns–all breeds known for dependable laying. I want hens. All hens. 52 and Eddie at the little store “sexed” the straight run chicks to pick out a dozen egg producers for me.
How’d they sex ‘em? Pick ‘em up, turn ‘em over in your hand, and if they draw their legs up to their body, they’re female. If they stretch their legs out, they’re male. If one leg draws up and the other leg stretches out, you put it back and try another. (When that happens, Eddie says, “Hmm, that one’s no good.”)
Now, I’m not so sure about this method, but! When I came home and looked up Golden Comet chickens on the internet, I found out they can be sexed by color as chicks. Golden Comet male chicks are all white and females are light brown. These four light brown Golden Comets are easy to differentiate from the yellow White Leghorn chicks and the darker brown Rhode Island Reds, so I actually believe they sexed the Golden Comets correctly for hens (they didn’t know about the color-link), which gives me hope for the Rhode Island Reds’ and White Leghorns’ chances of also being female chicks. There is one little chick that is almost white, though, and I fear it’s a male Golden Comet masquerading as a White Leghorn.
If that one turns out to be a rooster, I’m taking it back for a refund!
We’re keeping them in a cardboard box for now, with feed and water and a light. They’re too little to put out in the chicken house yet, but they’ll be moving to the brooder soon.
Of course, I’m planning to take charge of these chickens from the get-go. No more farm animals running my life and bossing me around. And no more roosters. Right, little white chick?
Stop looking at me like that! I’m naming you REFUND, you hear that?
