Barred Rocks aren't one of the breeds that can be sexed by different colors or handy little spots on their heads, unfortunately. Luckily they DO have upright combs, so the little roos will start showing their headgear before the girls do. You'll have to do some chick-to-chick comparisons in your batch. I've come across some male/female characteristics in chickens in general that might help, rather than retype it here I'm going to put in a link to my chicken page: http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChickHensBroodiesChicks.htm Day old chicks can be easily sexed by a very experienced, trained professional because at one day old the 'equipment' is right there and obvious. :) After they get a day or two older it becomes difficult, if not impossible. Good luck! :) Velvet ~:>

Sorry you are going to have to make that decision. :( It's a tough one. If you don't think the chick can be helped, I'd euthanize sooner rather than later--you can get VERY attached to those little guys. I have a Selenium/Vitamin E treatment you can TRY, it works for Crookneck/Limberneck from head injury, it just may help if the cause of the splay leg is neurological--it certainly can't hurt: For three to seven days, handfeed the chick this mixture, get the Selenium & Vitamin E at the drugstore, just use human vitamins: 50 micrograms of Selenium, crushed into powder (I get the 200mg tablets, cut them into quarters and use 1 quarter) 400 IU of vitamin E Crush up the 50mg of Selenium into a fine powder in a small dish. Take 1 Vitamin E capsule and use a pin to poke a hole in one end. Squeeze the contents into the crushed Selenium and use a wooden matchstick or a small stick to mix them together. You'll end up with a gritty, semi-think gel, the powder does not dissolve. Force feed the chick the entire mixture using the matchstick. I just open their beak and place it in their mouths and let them swallow. Feed this mixture once a day for three to seven days. It works amazingly well with head injuries, by the way, it's almost miraculous! Good luck! Velvet ~:>

You had a great butterfly day! I hope you get photos of the Monarchs, the little blues, and all of the other butterflies that find your garden -- and post them here. Can't wait to see them. geni

I guess the story is not over...as I said, little TUTI left at 1:55pm. At about 4:10pm, I heard a rustle in the birdless box (I left the nest there for now). The HOWR FRANTICALLY started to de-construct the nest. Grabbing nest material--fur, straw, grass, leaves--out of the hole! It was in a frenzy!!! It would grab something and almost throw itself at the hole to get the material out! If it went to grab a chunk of fur too big to take out, it pulled and pulled at it till it broke it down to a size that would go out the hole. Fast and furious. I did catch this frenzy on tape so I'll be putting that online in the next few days. I closed off the box for today. I need some rest. I can't imagine how such a little bird can do what I saw it do: peck eggs and throw them out, peck chicks and throw them out, attack almost-fledged chicks, and de-construct a HUGE TUTI nest! Blessings, Linda...