Minorca Chicks

trifecta

Songster
7 Years
Mar 20, 2012
172
12
104
Laidley, QLD, Australia
Those of you that have raised Minorcas- do you find the pullets can occasionally have larger combs than you would expect?

I purchased 4 sexed Minorca pullets (day olds) from a commercial hatchery. 3 are 3 weeks old and 1 is 4 weeks old. I've noticed in the past week that 2 have much larger, redder combs than the other two- if it was any other breed, I would swear its 2 cockerels and 2 pullets. All the other chicks that I have raised were pretty well obviously split by 4ish weeks of age based on sexing from comb size/color.

I realize that vent sexing is not 100%, but I considered it pretty bad luck to have 50% cockerels from a commercial source. I will likely keep them for another 2 weeks or so before contacting the hatchery for a refund- but I was kind of hoping someone on here would say that with Minorca's large combs that sometimes the pullets are more developed than other breeds (wishful thinking, I know).
 
Larger combs in some breeds, such as this, yes, but redder would be the focal point for me in assessing gender -- at 3-4 weeks of age a pullet may have decent size to her comb, but color would not be expected at all.
Can you post photos of the four birds in question so that we can see what you are seeing? It is really the only way for us to offer definitive opinions on gender for you - as one persons "bright red" is often someone else's "barely blushing".
 
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So in real life the combs don't look as red as they do in the pictures- the first 2 are obviously pullets, but the last two have combs that are twice the size of the others. My main concern is the obvious disparity but I'll be thrilled if they end up pullets as I definitely don't have space for 2 more roosters.
 
sorry for hijacking’ but this Minorca is three weeks and the one on the feed is supposed to be Minorca any ideas?
 

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