Pullet or Cockeral - youngest age to sex Cochins LF & Bantams...also Silver Spangled Hamburgs?

southernhusky

Chirping
Aug 30, 2015
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What is the youngest age I will be able to tell?

I have some 11 week old Buff Cochin Bantams, sex was pretty obvious even when I got them at around 7 weeks.....

Have 9 black frizzles that will be 5 weeks Monday....Two have reddish combs already. What do you think? Too young to tell or ?
Chick 1



And Chick 2



Also have 4 Silver Spangled Hamburgs, 2 have distinctly more reddish combs coming in. Is this usually a good sign its a roo in chicks this age?
 
I don't know much about Frizzles, but I think red coming in at 5 weeks for Hamburgs is pretty early. My own SSH's comb didn't start developing until she was around 15 weeks of age, so, in using that information for reference, that could indicate that you have a couple cockerels.
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-Alex
 
Thanks for the info. I will get some pictures of them in the next couple days, there is a very distinguishable difference in 2 of the 4 SSH. I know I've read its about 1 cockerel to 10 pullets but I only have 4 of that breed & I do want to hatch some purebred chicks. Are SSH ever used in producing sex-link chicks? I know its usually barred hens to red roo but I remember reading about someone using a.....splash x barred to get blue sex-link(certainly a little trickier to see barring).
 
Thanks for the info. I will get some pictures of them in the next couple days, there is a very distinguishable difference in 2 of the 4 SSH. I know I've read its about 1 cockerel to 10 pullets but I only have 4 of that breed & I do want to hatch some purebred chicks. Are SSH ever used in producing sex-link chicks? I know its usually barred hens to red roo but I remember reading about someone using a.....splash x barred to get blue sex-link(certainly a little trickier to see barring).
You're welcome! From my understanding, SSHs can't be used to produce red sex-links, but I'm pretty sure they can be used in the mix for black sex-links. All that is specified is that the male bred with a barred female should never be white or barred, so I guess that suggests that any other color type or pattern goes with regards to creating black sex-links. I'm not an expert to any extent, but this information was within my comprehension. Yes, pictures would be very helpful in determining the gender of your Hamburgs, if you get a chance.
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-Alex
 
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I've done the blue sex links, and they are tricky.

I think you should be able to use the SSH as the male over barred hens for sex link chicks. The speckling is recessive, but I don't know if they're basically a black bird under that or not. In Tim's post he says the SSH don't work for a red sex link cross, but says pretty much any non-white, non-barred male will work for a black cross, as long as you have some black going on in the down so the head spot is visible. Wild-type colors may not always work well for black sex link crosses.

I say give it a try and let us know how things go!
 
Every SSH cockerel I've had shows red comb and wattles early ( within a couple of weeks) and the pullets seem to take forever to show any comb growth at all for months. Right now I have a SSH cockerel and pullet that were hatched the same day, they're 14 weeks old and the pullet has yet to show much growth in her comb at all and the cockerel's comb and wattles are bright red and huge, but they were noticeable from week 2. Lol!
 

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