Bantam Cochin Gender? - updated photos at 4 weeks old on post #10

in the group pic it looks like 3 boys and 4 girls

Quote:
I believe they will all turn into Partridge Cochins, and the two on the right will for sure. I have not had any silver laced cochins; if the two on the left aren't partridge, maybe they are silver laced.

Ok, I'm need of some votes for my Silver Penciled Cochin Bantams. Pullets or cockerels? They are 6 weeks old. Ready, go!
Both pictures above are of Cholula (aka Lula)--I suspect pullet.
Both images above are of Boots--I suspect Cockerel, unwillingly.

inthesticks1847 said:

Ok, I'm need of some votes for my Silver Penciled Cochin Bantams. Pullets or cockerels? They are 6 weeks old. Ready, go!
Both pictures above are of Cholula (aka Lula)--I suspect pullet.
Both images above are of Boots--I suspect Cockerel, unwillingly.

Click to expand...

Based on coloring, they look like pullets.

BantamLover21 said:

Based on coloring, they look like pullets.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback! Any other opinions?

The one being held is a cockerel and the other a pullet. Based on combs.

juliechick said:

It's really still a guessing game. I used to think I could tell this early with Cochin bantams because the hens feathered in faster, like you said. But then, I've had some fool me. You should be able to tell in another couple weeks, though. The little roosters get big combs early and some even start to crow at about 4 - 6 weeks.

Click to expand...

I know this post is very old and don't want to piggy back it in any way but found it quite useful, particularly your comment juliechick. One of my standard cochin chicks, Millie, is making me nervous. She's quite docile compared to the others but is slow in the feathering department. It's also how her tail feathers are coming in. They are currently 4 weeks old now.

Compared to our laced cochin, Quincy.
I noticed her slower feathering within the first week. I'm watching them closely because I got 2 cochin chicks a few years ago and one was a boy, Oliver. I found pretty early on that he was feathering slow but unlike Millie, he was very active and assertive. Here's the link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/partridge-cochin-gender.802663/page-2 He and the other cochin, Gracie, were around 5 weeks old.

GardeNerd said:

Wow are they cute! It almost makes me want more chicks again, but life is too busy and I have no broodies right now.

Having 25 makes it easier to identify the genders than having just 2 or 3. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but I would guess out of your 4 blacks that A and D may be pullets, but my black pullets from Ideal usually have had longer wing tips, more like the red in the other picture. If it was me, I would keep that red for sure. Watch the tips of the tails over the next week or two. The ones that grow the fastest there and also on the shoulders are often the pullets. Most of them that are still pretty fuzzy around 3 to 4 weeks are the boys. The only exception I have had is the silver pencilled cochins; even the girls are still pretty fuzzy at 7 weeks.

Click to expand...

I know this thread is really old but I picked up some bantams last week. The RIR and black cochins all have tiny combs with varying degrees of feathering. I suspect 3 are pullets and one could be a cockerel based on feathering. They're only around a week old. The 2 silver Penciled cochins are the biggest chicks (would suspect dark brahma if it weren't for the combs) but they have the slowest feathering. One has a very defined chipmunk / facial pattern... the other, less so. The less defined one has the largest comb out of all the chicks. Pretty sure it's a roo. The other SP cochin has a smaller comb but it's still bigger than the rest of the bantams. Any chance the SPs just have larger combs or do I have 2 cockerels? The SPs were the 2 I was most excited about :/ Hoping at least 1 of the black cochins is mottled or Birchen or dark blue but I doubt it. Would love a SP in the mix but thinking I have 2 roos with each passing day Attaching pics of SP cochins as well as the little RIR whose comb is much smaller and similar to the rest of the chicks...

juliechick said:

It's really still a guessing game. I used to think I could tell this early with Cochin bantams because the hens feathered in faster, like you said. But then, I've had some fool me. You should be able to tell in another couple weeks, though. The little roosters get big combs early and some even start to crow at about 4 - 6 weeks.

Click to expand...

Same. When I first started hatching, my very first hatch only had two hatch. I was POSITIVE that one was a pullet and the other a cockerel. The one I thought was a cock feathered in twice as fast, was less friendly, the comb and wattles were noticeably darker and larger than pullet chick’s, and as they grew up I thought I even saw a droopy tail feather on that one. In fact, I was still sure that chicken was a cockerel until about a week before she laid her first egg. I think the confusion was partially from the fact that they were both half dark Brahma, half black Australorp so they could grow differently based on which breed they were more like.