A Couple of Startling Events in the Pullet Tractor

In late August in what my wife would tell you was the WORST possible time, we added to the number of our egg-layers by ordering 30 day-old chicks from Ideal Poultry.  They came in the mail and we put them in the chicken tractor outside.  A week later we were pummeled by the first of two hurricanes.  We pushed the chicken tractor in the garage, and they weathered the storm beautifully.  If it had been cold outside at that time, we would have lost all of them as we lost power for weeks.  With no heat lamp, they would have died.

The birds thrived despite our hardship.  They stunk up the garage in spectacular fashion.  We moved them outside and over the resulting weeks they have grown and grown.  They are pushed to fresh grass almost daily.  We have three types of pullets - Rhode Island Reds - they are the most prolific brown-egg layers.  Next, we have Barred Rocks - another productive brown-egg layer.  Finally, we have Easter-Eggers.  These are a breed that lay blue, green, and pink eggs.  According to publications, these pullets begin laying eggs between weeks 18 - 24.  Well, Saturday we found a green egg and again today.  The first eggs that pullets lay are small.  They are 'working the kinks out.'  But it won't take long until the rest are laying and the sizes will get normal.  The photo below shows the two Easter Egger green eggs.  I placed an adult laying hen's brown egg beside them for comparative purposes to show the size.

The photo below shows the different breeds a little better.  The dark gray and white (salt and pepper) bird you see in the foreground is the Barred Rock.  The reddish brown bird is the Rhode Island Red.  The other oddly colored (but beautiful) birds are the Easter Eggers.  Do you notice something strange about one of the "pullets" in the photo below?

In the event you didn't pick it out, they aren't all pullets - one is a cockrel!  Can you see him below?  He is the one in the far right corner with the big, beautiful comb.  His size was the first giveaway, but then he began crowing!  Hens don't crow.

Someone at the chicken hatchery made an honest mistake.  You can order a 'straight run' which means as-hatched.  They'll generally be 50-50 hens and roosters.  You can pay a little more and get pullets, which is what we did.  The chick sexers separate the day old hens from roosters.  There is a science to it.  I am not 100% sure how they do it, but they are usually perfect - Except for this time!  One rooster slipped through.  That's okay.  We actually need another rooster on the flock.