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hotties hens

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My husband and I started raising our BYC in December. I have two RIR and recently added golden lace Wyandottes. It was rather easy to tell the sex of the RIR, but the Golden Lace are a little more difficult. I see in prior posts that the Goldens should have rose comb. Is there a Difference between male/ female and when they develop their combs? When can you tell if you have pullet or cockrells. Thanks!
 
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Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! You can post pictures of your birds in the What Breed/Gender forum for help with figuring out what you have https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this GLW should have rose combs, with rose combs also the males will usually develop redder bigger combs faster than the females (it won't be as extreme looking as the single combed breeds like RIR though), usually by 6-8 weeks you should have a pretty good idea ... sometimes hatchery GLW will happen to have single combs by chance also, and if they came from a feed store, it isn't that unusual for the breeds to be mixed up.
 
Did your birds come from a hatchery? Many times hatchery stock looks nothing at all like those from a show breeder. Hatcheries do not breed to the standard of perfection.

Birds could have the wrong color feet, wrong number of toes, wrong skin color - this is particularly true of silkies, but, others as well - wrong ear color, eye color, type of comb,etc
 
Welcome to BYC!
frow.gif
I'm glad you joined us.

You're correct, Golden Laced Wyandottes (and all varieties of Wyandottes in general) should have rose combs. Occasionally, hatchery-quality birds pop up with single combs, but that isn't all that common.

Male Wyandottes will develop combs faster than the pullets will. By the time they are 6 weeks old or so (and I sometimes notice it beginning at 4 weeks), the cockerels will usually have obviously redder, larger combs than the pullets. However, Wyandotte combs will not get as large as those of single combed breeds. Width of comb is another good indicator of whether a bird is a cockerel. Wider combs almost always belong to cockerels.

Because I've raised Wyandottes for a couple of years, I can usually tell cockerels from pullets at 6 weeks old or sooner, based on comb size, width, and reddness. The males often also have thicker legs, a taller stance, and broader heads. By the time they are about 4 months old, cockerels will have developed saddle feathers and pointy hackle feathers (pullets never get saddle feathers and have blunt neck feathers).

With that said, Wyandottes can be tricky to sex some of the time. Last year, I had a Wyandotte that at 4 weeks old, already had a large, red, wide comb. I thought for sure that I had a cockerel and was thinking of selling it, because I didn't need another male. But when the time came to sell it, I realized that I actually had a pullet! The comb didn't get any redder or larger from 4 weeks to 8 weeks. Since then, I'm always a little more doubtful on whether I have a cockerel or a pullet Wyandotte.
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