5 week old Ameraucans... boys or girls?

yeswehave8

In the Brooder
5 Years
Aug 13, 2014
49
0
34
Hi, remember me? Had a heck of a time getting hens out of a backyard "breeder" last year. Out of 13 chickens, we finally ended up with 4 laying hens. We need a few more eggs a weeK, though so we thought we'd try again. Totally different sources, we bought sexed hens from a local farm store. 3 Ameraucana and 3 cuckoo Maran. The Maran were all pretty dark, though they've lightened some. Their combs are all still pale, too, so we will see. Out of the three others, two of them have grown much faster and feathered faster. One of which I'm really concerned that the tail seems more upright and she seems more upright in stance. I'm not seeing much on the comb either way, but it has orange feathers around the neck and I think I read that's more a male characteristic. I'm just very leary as we had so much trouble last year.

These are the best I have of those 2 for now. What do you think? This is Squeaker
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And the one who seems to have developed the fastest, Nugget
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Squeaker and Nugget both appear to be pullets; and they are actually Easter Eggers as opposed to true Ameraucanas. Hatcheries and feed stores frequently and incorrectly sell their Easter Eggers under the label Ameraucana. If you are not familiar with the difference between true Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers, there is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html explaining the difference. Our Easter Eggers are my granddaughter's (pictured in my avatar) favorite chickens. She loves their different colored eggs. :eek:)
 
Thanks! I figured they were EE, two of the 3 have green feet. They are gorgeous birds and we are only using them for eggs, so their pedigree isn't as important. I am not surprised, though. :p

I wonder why these 2 are so much bigger than the others? They were all purchased together and sold as week olds. They were all very similar in size as little fuzzies, but these two have feathered out quite fast. The other EE and the Marans are all in about the same point of feathering and look to be at least a week behind these two.

On the same line, is it normal for Cuckoo Marans to get lighter as they age, even as females? They were all pretty much black with splashes of yellow as fuzzies, but now that they are feathering, they are all a little lighter. One actually is taller than the other 2 but feathering slowly. No real color to any of their combs yet, though. I am just so gun shy since we had such a time getting to "just hens" and then our girls took FOREVER to lay. I think we've had eggs for just 2 months now and they are at least 8 months old. I was beginning to think they were all broken. LOL!
 
Thanks! I wonder why these 2 are so much bigger than the others? They were all purchased together and sold as week olds. They were all very similar in size as little fuzzies, but these two have feathered out quite fast. The other EE and the Marans are all in about the same point of feathering and look to be at least a week behind these two.

On the same line, is it normal for Cuckoo Marans to get lighter as they age, even as females? They were all pretty much black with splashes of yellow as fuzzies, but now that they are feathering, they are all a little lighter. One actually is taller than the other 2 but feathering slowly. No real color to any of their combs yet, though. I am just so gun shy since we had such a time getting to "just hens" and then our girls took FOREVER to lay. I think we've had eggs for just 2 months now and they are at least 8 months old. I was beginning to think they were all broken. LOL!
EEs are produced by crossing blue egg layers with brown egg layers so ultimately the size and maturity rate of the offspring can vary depending on which breeds are used in the crosses. Your Cuckoo Marans will get lighter as they grow and more of the white barring appears in their feathers. Of course if they get too light, I would become concerned that they were cockerels. You might want to post some pics of them on this What Breed or Gender is This? section and let our experts there take a look at them.
 
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EEs are produced by crossing blue egg layers with brown egg layers so ultimately the size and maturity rate of the offspring can vary depending on which breeds are used in the crosses. Your Cuckoo Marans will get lighter as they grow and more of the white barring appears in their feathers. Of course if they get too light, I would become concerned that they were cockerels. You might want to post some pics of them on this What Breed or Gender is This? section and let our experts there take a look at them.
Ok, thanks. So far, they are all still looking ok.The others seem to have caught up with the one who got taller first. I am going to assuming that they all came from the same place and are not going to be purebred, which is ok, our other 4 are all supposed to be BCM but one is actually red and lays pale tan eggs... she's our every day girl, though, and we love her! :)
 
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You might want to post some pics of them on this What Breed or Gender is This? section and let our experts there take a look at them.
LOL! Sorry, I had answered so many new members posts yesterday that I lost track and thought I was in the "introducing new members" section. :eek:)
 
I know this is old, but I wanted to update in case anyone is comparing pictures, like I often do.

Squeaker and Nugget are both indeed girls. Nugget makes a lovely blush egg and Squeaker a pale blue/green. They are HUGE birds (about as big as our cuckoos) and continue to be bigger than our 3rd EE, Dandy, who is the smallest of those six but makes a gorgeous darker aqua egg that is just as big as the rest.

Nugget


All 6 foraging, Dandy is back left... I can't tell the difference in the other 2 EEs without looking at their faces.



And why we do it all, eggs!!
 

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