I would just do them all at once or if they are taking a while to hatch, do the first few and then all the others. It shouldn't take too long, once the first one hatches the others should be out in no time.
For meat birds I don't think gender really makes a difference as roosters shouldn't start causing problems till they are around 4 or 5 months old. If you decide to get mixed gender then just be sure to butcher the males first.
Keeping meat birds healthy longer is all in how much/often they are...
Certainly appears to be a male, big comb and waddles, tail feathers are starting to have the usual rooster tail curve to them. He should be crowing soon I would think.
Sounds like it is just a difference in temp and/or humidity. Not a huge problem IMO, a day or two difference shouldn't cause any harm in the incubated eggs. As for introducing the chicks, once they are all dry tuck them in under her at night time. I doubt she will reject them if she's already...
I vote girl, while the comb is getting pinkish that may just be due to it maturing as a hen. Not sure when the combs on young hens really start to color up and I'm sure it varies depending on breed, all I know is it happens as they get closer to laying age.
Can you get a better photo showing the comb? I can't say much based on feathering but there doesn't appear to be much going on in the comb department.
Here's one of my 8 week old EE boys, already has a fat red comb. His brother and other unrelated hatch mates have similar comb size/color and...
Someone I know raised a bat pup on kitten milk, feeding it every few hours and keeping a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel with it. Little bat survived to be able to eat pre-caught bugs and then flew off. Not sure if it was able to adapt to the wild but it was given a chance.
Combs and waddles will get red and grow some on young hens who are close to sexual maturity (near laying age) so maybe that's why there's a change?
I have some 9 week olds and the 5 roosters have had combs like the one is question since week 7, though they are getting a bit bigger and darker in...
5 week olds are still babies, they will bond with other chicks but those bonds are often broken/rearranged as they mature. At this time they are establishing a pecking order and they will be more prone to picking on the others in a brooder setting. IMO they are ready for the coop at this size...
If that ends up being the case I’d be stoked but for 8 week old chicks I don’t think combs and waddles would be that red if they were females. Plus the yellow EE with the red shoulders patches which I thought indicated male. I’ll have to grab photos of the two for-sure girls, their combs are...
Updated 8 week old photos of some. Chicks 1 and 2 are definitely boys. The yellow and red one is currently the nicest while the blue one is a bit rough with the pecking.
Chick 4 is the biggest one so far, he and the frizzle female are the most timid.
Chick 7, probably a roo but the comb and...
The little guys are doing well, had one more Jersey giant die on me but it was acting unwell so I'm not too surprised. I've scoured the internet to figure out what chick 5 and 6 are. Still unsure of what #5 is but #6 is looking more and more like a blue cuckoo maran. Time will tell, I'll be...
Are there any chicks that don’t have the bloody beaks? Looks like they might be picking at each other, I’d take a seat and watch them for a while to see if that’s the case.
Otherwise it could be the feeder/waterer that has holes too small for their beaks.
If all the other ducklings have hatched and these two have stopped moving and chirping then they are likely goners. Chicks that are alive should respond to sound and touch when hatching out. I would suggest you pull the chick out the rest of the way in the first egg to see if it is alive and...
Is it squishy or hard? If you give it a squeeze done anything come out of an opening?
Honestly looks more like a tumor to me, in which case you can't do much. At the very least I'd keep it clean and apply some sort of wound spray on it and make sure no maggots start popping up.
Picked up my order first thing Wednesday morning, due to unpredicted circumstances they had to sit there over night. A day and half in the box led to 8/20 DOA’s :( But here we are, with 12 little ones to care for and all but one seems to be doing splendidly. My order contained 6 black jersey...
I suggest you incubate them vertically fat end up, only start to turn them after 4 days by tilting them ~45 degrees this way and that while also rotating the egg 1/4 a turn. You can set them in egg cartons to incubate if you don't have a vertical incubator but you'll have to hand turn them...