EE gender guessing by color? And the other babies too...now at 3-4 weeks

This is my kids favorite chick...we can't keep any roosters in this area so we try to guess the gender based on colors and prepare them...

Starstripe is 2-3 weeks? And was sold as an amerucana but I guess maybe Easter egger is more accurate?

I read about typical girl boy colors and patterns last night... none of them have any comb to speak of yet..we have 3 Easter eggers

The others is black/white/light brown and dark brown/black...all with chipmuck pattern and greenish legs

My middle one cuddeling

When they are that young, there is really no way to tell their gender, unfortunately. Often times, (once they are older and more mature) a pullet's feather patterns will flow evenly down her body, whereas a cockerel's will be more blotchy and are most commonly black and white. But, the best way to sex them is once they reach about 10-15 weeks old when their combs are coming in and their feather patterns are developing.

There are predominately male and female EE colors, but you do need to let them feather in a bit more to get an idea of the sex.

You can see what is meant by going to the EE sexing thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/463817/easter-egger-sexing-tips-and-tricks-pictures-included

The one chick pictured in your photos appears to be growing in the typical female partridge pattern, but you will need to see what the chest and head color come in as. If it is gold with the partridge back, that is the female pattern almost 100% of the time (note almost).

The male pattern is predominantly black and white. Few black/white patterns are female, but it can happen.

Other colors happen in EE's, and with those, you have to watch the pattern itself. Males will have a patchwork quilt appearance (blocks of colors) and/or red bars on the wing bows. Females will have even patterns, like a kaleidescope.

I cannot say with the one that you verbally described.

The best bet is to read through that sexing thread to get a good idea of what is meant by the typcial male and female patterns.

This works pretty well for first generation EE's....one purebred parent bred to the Ameraucana or Araucana parent. Once you get to 2nd generation, or mixed breeds to mixed breeds, it becomes more difficult as there are a lot of genes floating around and feather patterns become more complicated.

LofMc

EDITED TO ADD: with wild type chicks (chipmunk coloring), while not fool proof, often (not always), but often the female pattern will have a solid stripe from the head down the neck to the tail while the male pattern will have a break in the stripe at the neck and be less distinct. Also, females often (not always) have 3 bar colors in the stripes (like white, black, brown) while males will have two (ex. brown and black). But that is a generality. I've used it and thus far have had success in picking female EE's...but I would have to do it a lot and keep record to see if it improved accuracy beyond general 50/50 luck.

Lady of McCamley said:

The one chick pictured in your photos appears to be growing in the typical female partridge pattern, but you will need to see what the chest and head color come in as. If it is gold with the partridge back, that is the female pattern almost 100% of the time (note almost).

Click to expand...

Yep. You always have to add the word 'almost' to male female identifiers when it comes to Easter Eggers.
Cause the second you declare it a 100% rule, you get a chick like this dark red one. Even uniform pattern overall at 6 weeks.

Then the next week, the chest started to turn rosy red, indicating pullet by the 'rules.' But the comb also starting turning pink.

Just a month later, it was undeniable. He was a big, beautiful red cockerel.

Just keep an eye out for drastic color changes. Pullets don't change much between 6 and 12 weeks old.

Picturetime ;-) here is all three ee's








So Milli the lightest one is more likely a boy? The dark one is really shy...the middle the kids favorite is really cuddely

Thanks a lot for the replys! they are cool birds and hopefully we can get some colorful eggs this fall unless all three turn out to be roosters

I will update witj more pictures when they grow older too we got them 2 weeks ago...so they are probably 2,5 -3 weeks now?

None are likelier boy at this point...we really don't know what color the lighter one is yet. Adult feathers are usually much differently colored than the baby down. Some down colors are indicative...pale yellow is almost always white; black down will become black feathers (but not always...I've had it come in blue as adult); red fawn down usually turns into browns and reds.

But with chipmunks there are so many different color patterns that can be exhibited.

You'll need to wait until they are about 6 weeks of age before getting a better educated guess.

I can say that the one with gold coming in on the chest with the partridge brown back is looking like it will turn into the classic female pattern...but that one pattern is usually female, not most females have that pattern. Get it?

LofMc

They aren't Easter Egger/Ameraucana. They are Easter Eggers. Easter Eggers and Ameraucana are two very different things. The names are not interchangeable.

junebuggena said:

They aren't Easter Egger/Ameraucana. They are Easter Eggers. Easter Eggers and Ameraucana are two very different things. The names are not interchangeable.

Click to expand...

I know...but I assume they are not amerucana's but easter eggers even if they actually was sold to us as amerucana's