Help!? Not so new to raising chickens, but new to this breed....

I ordered 2 hens from McMurray Hatchery along with a friend's huge order. However, within 1 day, one of the chicks died, leaving my Barred Rock female all alone and crying constantly. So, in order to fix the issue, I went to the local Atwoods and purchased what I was told was a female Red Leghorn. She had a red tag on her wing that I had to remove, which was supposed to be for female. However, the more I see her quickly develop, not only is she older then i thought (im thinking 3.5-4 weeks), but Im starting to wonder if she is in fact a golden or silver phoenix instead of a brown leghorn (i couldnt find any called red leghorns). They did have a tub of mixed gwnder phoenixes. The other issue is that her tail feathers are extremely long for her age, which i understand is normal for female phoenixes, not so normal for leghorns (i have a white one of my own so I know what they tend to look like). However, from prior experience raising a barred, leghorn, and RIR roosters, their tails were developing quickly by this age too. Theres not a ton of comb development and not pink in coloring, so Im pretty certain they got the gender right and she's a female. The barred is quite larger then her so her size is more consistent qith a smaller breed not a heavier breed. Help?!

Looks like a Light Brown Leghorn to me (could also be a Welsummer, though) - the color of her ear lobes and eventual eggs will be telling. Her tail looks pretty normal for a 3.5-4 week old leghorn pullet to me. Not to dispute your experience, but the pullets generally develop their tails more quickly and fully than the cockerels - the cockerel tails do end up more impressive than the pullets, but at the early stages like this the girls get a head start.

That comb is making me think cockerel, but post more pictures in a few weeks to be sure. It looks like a Brown Leghorn to me, has the thin body. Also it's tail looks normal for it's age.

Ol Grey Mare said:

Looks like a Light Brown Leghorn to me (could also be a Welsummer, though) - the color of her ear lobes and eventual eggs will be telling. Her tail looks pretty normal for a 3.5-4 week old leghorn pullet to me. Not to dispute your experience, but the pullets generally develop their tails more quickly and fully than the cockerels - the cockerel tails do end up more impressive than the pullets, but at the early stages like this the girls get a head start.

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Agreed.

McMurray has red leghorns, but yours does not look like one. It looks like a brown Leghorn.

Light Brown Leghorn would be my guess, or Welsummer.

keesmom said:

McMurray has red leghorns, but yours does not look like one. It looks like a brown Leghorn.

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X 2 - red leghorn chicks should not have eyeliner markings

A few more pics. Im really leaning towards the Welsummer! I just saw a pic of one pretty much the same age and they are identical, down to the black speck on the beak! Im pretty positive she is NOT a red leghorn as Atwoods said. The comb is still not red or pink, so Im still leaning towards female, but these tail feathers are just throwing me off I guess. She is still smaller then our barred rock chick from McMurrays (who is huge by the way).

Sorry, but it looks like a cockerel, also once he starts filling out you should be able to determine the breed, Welsummers are thicker and more muscular, Brown Leghorns are thinner and have longer tails and larger combs.

Light brown leghorns and welsummers do look similar at that age. However, with both breeds, the males and females feather out different colors. The males will be black breasted with red coloring on the wings. Females have a more consistent pattern all over with a brown breast. Regardless of what breed she turns out to be (time will tell) she is a pullet. Males will look completely different, even at that age.