Mind if I take a crack at this one, Blooie? I seem to be pretty good lately at spotting the future roosters among my chicks. Three for three this year.
Besides the behavior cluing me in, I have noticed my cockerels are just all around more intense, while the girls are mostly laid back. It's sort of a general "instinct". Blooie, you said you always "felt" Scout was a cockerel, it's a feeling like that. The one I currently have, at ten weeks, even though this week, a rep at My Pet Chicken insists he's " a hen that is getting her mature tail feathering", I've known from the minute he popped out of the packing box he was a boy. That behavior alone told me this was probably a cockerel, and he had zero wing feathering while the other two had staggered feather buds poking out from their teensy wing stubs. Now he's got the longest legs and huge feet for his body, as well as bright red comb and wattles. The two girls each have reassuringly pale undeveloped combs. Whew! Oh, he also has little rooster shooting tail feathers that no hen in the history of chickens would ever be sporting. Cuckoo Marans roos have the most dramatic tail streamers and this one, judging from these baby efforts, will be spectacular. Hen, my @$$.
What does your little suspect's wing stubs look like? Mostly absent any feather development? If any feather buds, are they perfectly even if they're beginning to emerge? If so, you likely have a boy.
Besides the behavior cluing me in, I have noticed my cockerels are just all around more intense, while the girls are mostly laid back. It's sort of a general "instinct". Blooie, you said you always "felt" Scout was a cockerel, it's a feeling like that. The one I currently have, at ten weeks, even though this week, a rep at My Pet Chicken insists he's " a hen that is getting her mature tail feathering", I've known from the minute he popped out of the packing box he was a boy. That behavior alone told me this was probably a cockerel, and he had zero wing feathering while the other two had staggered feather buds poking out from their teensy wing stubs. Now he's got the longest legs and huge feet for his body, as well as bright red comb and wattles. The two girls each have reassuringly pale undeveloped combs. Whew! Oh, he also has little rooster shooting tail feathers that no hen in the history of chickens would ever be sporting. Cuckoo Marans roos have the most dramatic tail streamers and this one, judging from these baby efforts, will be spectacular. Hen, my @$$.
What does your little suspect's wing stubs look like? Mostly absent any feather development? If any feather buds, are they perfectly even if they're beginning to emerge? If so, you likely have a boy.
