Any Poultry Experts Here?

[Gary A]

Some guy came around selling chicks. They look like all chickens to me but he told my wife that the gold colored ones are great egg layers and the brown and yellow are meat chickens. The striped ones are supposed to be turkeys.

We'll probably never see the guy again so it's hard telling what they are. They may all be culled roosters of some kind.

[grimleybob]

They all look like "turkey's" but hey never mind they'll all be great for soup. I hope they were "cheep cheep" Good luck Bob

[Gary A]

They all look like "turkey's" but hey never mind they'll all be great for soup. I hope they were "cheep cheep" Good luck Bob

I think the guy was able to bullshit my wife. She paid 15 baht each for whatever they are. I REALLY hope they are not turkeys. We had turkeys before and besides being a royal pain, they were as tough as shoe leather.

[ozzydom]

We had a guy come around our area a couple of times on a similar mission , turns out these blokes get the day old cockerals after sexing at the commercial hatcheries at no or little cost as they are usually just killed.

All his "laying chicks " turned out to be cockerals,I hear the locals are eagerly awaiting his return

Turkey chicks from day old are normally 3-4 times the size of a chicken.

At least they were cheap,good chicks run to 30-40 baht a piece day old.

Edited July 22, 2011 by ozzydom

[Gary A]

We had a guy come around our area a couple of times on a similar mission , turns out these blokes get the day old cockerals after sexing at the commercial hatcheries at no or little cost as they are usually just killed.

All his "laying chicks " turned out to be cockerals,I hear the locals are eagerly awaiting his return

Turkey chicks from day old are normally 3-4 times the size of a chicken.

At least they were cheap,good chicks run to 30-40 baht a piece day old.

My wife says that if they are all roosters, that is OK because they are still good to eat. They were all still alive this morning so apparently they are healthy. Time will tell.

It was entertaining to watch them when she put them in their pen. They were very happy to get out of their box. They were all running around flapping their little wings and chasing each other. Most of the pen has rice chaff a couple of inches deep. After their initial exercise, most were busy scratching in the chaff and showering their friends.

There are three distinct different kinds and the colors are unusual. I have never seen chicks those colors. The gold colored ones reminded me of the colored Easter chicks from years ago.

[andycrosby]

So how did things turn out ?

[Gary A]

So how did things turn out ?

The chicks are still alive but it will be quite sometime before I can determine the sex of the chicks.

[slapout]

I think they are the run of the mill Thai chicken. They will all be black with red and white coloration. Doubt any are turkey, They should be ok for a chicken noodle dish or chicken soup/stew. As mentioned, keep us posted and show pictures as they mature, another classroom learning experience.

[kikoman]

You got a good price for those chicks, if they all turn out to be roosters, you can eat them, the going price for layers baby chicks is about 40-55 baht each. They do look like Thai chickens, the brown ones could be Rhode island reds, I do not see any turkeys in there as the other poster said the turkeys' would be a lot bigger then the baby chicks.

You were not taken for a ride,as the going market price for straight run roosters is 15 baht each at the market, the worst he has done to you is lie about their sex.

I would not let the chicks run free in the chicken house until they grow out feathers to keep them warm, I would put them in a box in my feed room and put a light on (in the box) so they could keep warm with the heat from the light bulb and feed them starter mash until they are ready to leave out all the time.

You may have some layers in there, if you lucky, the rest can go into the soup pot.

Good Luck;

Cheers;

[bina]

you are supposed to sex chicks at one day and at three days i think; at least here in the prof. chick hatcheries that is what people do; they have workers that sex chicks all day and discard the males for cheap; females are sold to egg layers and/meat farms.

something about the size if the wings /wing feathers... cant remember but there are pics in google with the sexing charts published by prof. chicken growers , at least in israel we have them

bina

[Jotham79]

The speckled ones are males that will mainly look like barred rocks. They are the male offspring of Rhode Island reds and Barred Rockes. The golden onesT are the male offspring of Rhode Island reds and white rocks. The brown and white look like Thai Gai Ban, but are a little too uniform and I would wager they are some other form of sex link males. Eventually (1-2 years) These chickens will get really big, but they have a horrible feed conversion so you want to free range them as soon as possible. I don't believe you have any turkeys.

[Naam]

So how did things turn out ?

The chicks are still alive but it will be quite sometime before I can determine the sex of the chicks.

important hint! those with peckers and balls are males

[ozzydom]

So how did things turn out ?

The chicks are still alive but it will be quite sometime before I can determine the sex of the chicks.

important hint! those with peckers and balls are males

Better stick to counting your money Naam,easy to see you know <deleted> all about chickens.

[RedBullHorn]

So how did things turn out ?

The chicks are still alive but it will be quite sometime before I can determine the sex of the chicks.

important hint! those with peckers and balls are males

Better stick to counting your money Naam,easy to see you know <deleted> all about chickens.

at least that crack me up...

OLD WIVES TALES - take with a pinch of salt!

If you pick a chick up with two fingers by the neck, the pullets will draw their legs up to their body and the cockerels legs will dangle.

Hold your chick on their back in your hand. If they stop kicking after a short time, it's a pullet, if they keep kicking it's a cockerel.

Needle and Thread - dangle the needle over your chick ... if it moves around and around it is a female, if it swings back and forth it is male - this is supposed to work for both chicks and eggs.

Edited August 1, 2011 by RedBullHorn

[andycrosby]

the needle and thread thing does work for some people and is said to be 95% right they sell them on e-bay uk

[473geo]

Problem is, the males from the layer breeds tend to be thin and leathery, not good to eat at all......maybe you can train them for fighting?

[andycrosby]

Problem is, the males from the layer breeds tend to be thin and leathery, not good to eat at all......maybe you can train them for fighting?

I feed up the laying cocks and I will tell you there not capons but they do a lot bettter than the Thai native rubbish. I think the problem is 50% letting your wives give them only rice bran and 50% most people do not know how to fatten chicks. There are plants in Thailand that have 30% protien that you can pick for free if you can be bothered. I am feeding 50 Turkeys at the moment for christmas and it takes me 15 minutes in the morning its that or a bag of food every 3 days.

[slapout]

We use to buy 3 to 400 chicks for brooder house (normally about 50% males). If memory serves it was referred to as straight run. Leghorns and Rhode island reds were breeds of choice. We started eating the cocks when their comb was at the point they were recognized as male. Took about 3 months to reach eating size. Feed was grower mash and then wheat and they were allowed to free range. The males were no different than the pullets in size and were the first to go as we needed replacement layers. Best fried chicken I have ever eaten, KFC would have gone broke in the farm belt. Any excess could be dressed and sold at the creamery who passed them on to the town people.

[andycrosby]

my mouth is driping with the thought of some good home made fried Chicken

[pigeonjake]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

[mo99]

Problem is, the males from the layer breeds tend to be thin and leathery, not good to eat at all......maybe you can train them for fighting?

I feed up the laying cocks and I will tell you there not capons but they do a lot bettter than the Thai native rubbish. I think the problem is 50% letting your wives give them only rice bran and 50% most people do not know how to fatten chicks. There are plants in Thailand that have 30% protien that you can pick for free if you can be bothered. I am feeding 50 Turkeys at the moment for christmas and it takes me 15 minutes in the morning its that or a bag of food every 3 days.

Andy, what kind of plants do you feed them?

I have read water spinach (pak boong) is very high protein, our rabbit used to eat a ton of it...

My hens love amaranth leaves, they seem to be too stupid to eat the seed off the plant though.

[transam]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

My chicken keeps forgetting the PIN number.

[BuddhistVirus]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

My chicken keeps forgetting the PIN number.

Buy her a new SIM

[transam]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

My chicken keeps forgetting the PIN number.

Buy her a new SIM

ATM PIN, come on, wake up.

[BuddhistVirus]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

My chicken keeps forgetting the PIN number.

Buy her a new SIM

ATM PIN, come on, wake up.

Thousand apologies...

[cobbler]

hi all, you can sex a chicken with your credit card,, dont laugh,, hold the card under the nech feathers just so you can see the feathers better really, the cocks will have pointed feathers and the pullets will be rounded,

its true,

my wife bless her as just bought 25 young duck, brown laying ducks, dont have to pay till dec5th as they garantie all females, so i think the mrs did well,

jake

Hi Pigeonjake,

Where did you get them?Also how much.Ducks are good money.

Cheers Coobler

[pigeonjake]

hi cobbler,

to be honest mate i dont know were she got them from, im in scotland on a job for a couple of months, but i would think it would be just of the motorbike man that travels round, we are talungnai, just outside wangnamyen, sakoe,,

ill send her and text and find out for you, give me a few mins my mate

jake

[pigeonjake]

hi cobbler,

shes said and i quote,,lol, them sat them from musethen monggee she buy 25 duck 1110bht but them not want cash them come for money dec,

hope that helps any my mate, jake

[cobbler]

hi cobbler,

shes said and i quote,,lol, them sat them from musethen monggee she buy 25 duck 1110bht but them not want cash them come for money dec,

hope that helps any my mate, jake

Thanks for that mate.Some things here just crack me up.Thats classic.

Cheers Cobbler