Help comb sexing ~4-week-old Ameraucanas (not EE!)

We are very new to this site and to chickens in general. We purchased some straight run Ameraucanas a week ago and I've been researching potential methods of sexing young Ameraucanas and seem to have found that the only semi-reliable way at this age is by their combs. I tried taking a look at our three older Ameraucanas' combs, but only feel reasonably certain about one of them. I've seen a lot of great sexing threads on here and figured I'd give it a shot! The chicks will be four weeks old this Sunday.


Black chick, I'm fairly certain this one's a roo.








Blue chick, I'm really not sure on this one.









Splash (edit: light blue, not splash) chick, not sure on this one, either.







Apologies for some photos being less-than-perfect--the black chick settles down more than the other two.

Many thanks in advance!


-Kes

You are most likely correct that first one will most likely be a cockerel. Are you allowed to have Ameraucanas where you live?
There are many ways you can tell sex at a young age would be size, if hackle feathers are growing in, and the tail shape can all indicate what sex it is even sometimes the color can give it away. When I looked at the other two they will most likely be hens. Are you sure that one's a blue wheaten? Did you breed these guys? I'm thinking (Since we're in blacks and blues) that you have a splash instead?

Twistedfeather said:

You are most likely correct that first one will most likely be a cockerel. Are you allowed to have Ameraucanas where you live?
There are many ways you can tell sex at a young age would be size, if hackle feathers are growing in, and the tail shape can all indicate what sex it is even sometimes the color can give it away. When I looked at the other two they will most likely be hens. Are you sure that one's a blue wheaten? Did you breed these guys? I'm thinking (Since we're in blacks and blues) that you have a splash instead?

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Yes, our town allows up to ten chickens on one acre of land or less (we have a fenced quarter acre on the woods) with no breed specifications, although sadly we are not allowed to have roos due to noise concerns so we will not be able to keep any that end up being male.

Thank you for your comment on the "blue wheaten"--you're definitely right about its being a splash and I've corrected it in my post. We didn't breed them ourselves but picked them up from a breeder about an hour away who breeds blue, black and splash Ameraucanas, French Copper Marans and Wyandottes-- www.ricochetridge.com is his website if you're curious. We also picked up one younger Ameraucana (also a splash) and three Wyandottes, but all four of them are only about two weeks old.

Thanks very much for the input! I will be overjoyed if the blue and splash chicks do turn out to be girls.

-Kes

Judging by the combs, they are all looking a lot like cockerels to me, especially the first and the last one.

They're all looking like cockerels to me (based on comb development), but it is way too young to be sure.

The last one isn't a splash. I see too much color in there. Splashes are pearly white birds, generally. Looks like it's in the wheaten family to me but could be the photo. If it doesn't have any brownish color, it's a blue, not splash, but I do think I see brown in one of the photos.

Twistedfeather, she said she purchased some straight run Ameraucanas, so the breeder could have several color varieties. The problem is you shouldn't breed wheatens with the BBS variety if you want to keep the colors right and not end up with non-standard colors.


They are all males, IMO. You won't see the male traits like pointy saddle feathers for a few weeks yet, but I'm going on the extra wide and prominent pea combs.

How long has this seller been breeding Ameraucanas?

Wyandottes7 said:

Judging by the combs, they are all looking a lot like cockerels to me, especially the first and the last one.

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BantamLover21 said:

They're all looking like cockerels to me (based on comb development), but it is way too young to be sure.

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Thank you both for the input! That's what I was thinking but I'm so new to sexing that I'm not ready to trust my instincts just yet.

speckledhen said:

The last one isn't a splash. I see too much color in there. Splashes are pearly white birds, generally. Looks like it's in the wheaten family to me but could be the photo. If it doesn't have any brownish color, it's a blue, not splash, but I do think I see brown in one of the photos.

Twistedfeather, she said she purchased some straight run Ameraucanas, so the breeder could have several color varieties. The problem is you shouldn't breed wheatens with the BBS variety if you want to keep the colors right and not end up with non-standard colors.


They are all males, IMO. You won't see the male traits like pointy saddle feathers for a few weeks yet, but I'm going on the extra wide and prominent pea combs.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your feedback on sex; that's what I'd been leaning toward but this is my first experience trying to sex. The breeder we purchased them from has two unrelated flocks, both with one blue roo with blue, black and splash hens--wouldn't that mean all of the offspring would be BBS?

enola said:

How long has this seller been breeding Ameraucanas?

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I'm not sure. He breeds BBS Ameraucanas from two unrelated flocks and seems very knowledgeable. I did post a link to his site in my previous post on this thread if you're curious about something in particular.

speckledhen said:

The last one isn't a splash. I see too much color in there. Splashes are pearly white birds, generally. Looks like it's in the wheaten family to me but could be the photo. If it doesn't have any brownish color, it's a blue, not splash, but I do think I see brown in one of the photos.

Twistedfeather, she said she purchased some straight run Ameraucanas, so the breeder could have several color varieties. The problem is you shouldn't breed wheatens with the BBS variety if you want to keep the colors right and not end up with non-standard colors.


They are all males, IMO. You won't see the male traits like pointy saddle feathers for a few weeks yet, but I'm going on the extra wide and prominent pea combs.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your feedback on sex; that's what I'd been leaning toward but this is my first experience trying to sex. The breeder we purchased them from has two unrelated flocks, both with one blue roo with blue, black and splash hens--wouldn't that mean all of the offspring would be BBS?
If that chick has brown on it, it is not either blue, black or splash. Something else is going on with it. A splash is a white bird, no brown off color on it, only blue/gray "accent" feathers in places, but no brown color. Could you get a picture of that one from the side so we can see the plumage? I see what appears to be brown feathers like you'd see on a wheaten chick at that age.

This is a splash chick near that age:



In this photo you posted, you see the brown on the right side of the photo, at about the 4:00 position--that looks wheaten, not BBS at all.

I think they're all cockerels.

It would be great to see pics in a few more weeks, to see how accurate we are!