First I just want to quickly update on Pepper. I talked to the vet at our pet store today and he said everything I am doing is correct. He said it really does take 5 days and if she is not better by the start of next week, I could take her in but he didn’t seem to be too worried and she does seem slightly improved.
Now we move on to the next problem. We think Poppy is a roo. The other two hang together all the time while she (I am going to continue to call her “she” until we are certain), is often off on her own. We had noticed that she has bigger feet and longer legs, she is also taller and much more upright. When we gave them the maggots this afternoon, poppy found them first and gave a loud call which had the other two running straight over. Finally we noticed her tail is longer and curved while the other two have quite rounded tails.
The better news is that Pepper may not be so bad as I thought because I had been comparing her shape to the sleek upright shape of Poppy as they were the same size and are the same age. I can now see little Dotty (two weeks younger) developing the same shaped chest. Both Dotty and Pepper have pigeon shaped chests and are low to the ground where as poppy is sleek and upright. All the more reason to think she is a roo. They have changed so much in just a week.
I wanted to show this with pictures but they are not great as it rained most of the day and it was really difficult to get the three of them together, unlike the other day when I couldn’t get them to part.
Poppy on the right has bigger feet and a longer tail
Poppy has a roo like tail
All three on the perch
This is the first time I have seen all three on the perch. Although it’s not a great photo as I had to take it from outside, I wanted to include it to show their new skill. I can’t get one from inside as they all jump off. Do they feel safer with the mesh between us?
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Hmmm, don’t re-home her yet. I’m not seeing roo. I’m no expert but when I had a roo, at 8 weeks that bird was MORE than double the size of the other hens. His legs were twice as thick. I mean the difference was striking. And his comb was really beginning to develop and was red. I know you think the tail is coming along faster than the others but I wouldn’t go by that. Birds will develop at different rates. I had two birds molt last fall. One did it very slowly. You never would have known by looking at her that she was molting. Coco on the other hand had HUGE bald patches where she just shed every single feather at the same time. Whew. So hard to watch.
If you can get side by side photos of them showing their combs, legs and feet, that would help. But I’m still leaning towards hen for now.
Oh I so hope you are right. That has made me feel better. Their combs haven’t started developing yet. The guy at the farm said if one was a roo, I could take it back and change it as they were going to continue hatching. But what worries me (apart from 4 hour round trip) is these three were the only ones they had managed to get to this stage so far. I have waited so long for them, it would heartbreaking to give one up but I have neighbours, close either side and know that I can’t have a roo. I won’t do anything until I am really certain though and I know only time will tell.