8 week old BLRWs!

[cluckcluck42]

Here are my 8 week old BLRWs. At this age can they be accurately sexed? I have a very good idea who are boys and who are girls but is there a possibility at this age they are still a bit tricky tricky? Maybe I will have some nice surprises, because right now I have way more boys than girls. *sigh* Anyways look at my beautiful little guys! I didn't take as many pics as I wanted to, the camera died midway through.

Pretty sure this is a girl. Isn't she gorgeous?! (both pics are of same bird)

Girl

Boy?

Definite boy! Got a nice look at his saddle feathers when we put him back. You can kind of see them in this pic too, all smooshed up.

Feel free to tell me what you think of them

 

[allieloveschickens]

They are really pretty! The first one definitely looks like a pullet, not sure about the others though, do you have any full body photos of them? Its hard to tell if there are any saddle feathers. Good looking bunch!

 

[cluckcluck42]

No saddle feathers except on the one who is definitely a boy. I'm trying to go by legs and comb/wattles but none of their legs seem to be too much bigger than the females. I didn't take more than one picture of the ones I knew to be boys so there are quite a few that look like the last one in my pic. But no saddle feathers on any besides that guy! At least not so far. I read somewhere on here that BLRWs are hard to sex just like EE's/Ameraucanas. I've owned lots of EE's so I am familiar with thinking it's one thing thing then BAM it's not! I had two that were supposed to be cockerals, it was the general consensus on here, then a couple months later I started getting suspicious. That was a nice surprise when roosters turn out to be pullets.

 

[cluckcluck42]

Here's my question for the BLRW peeps: Are combs and wattles accurate indicators of sex at 8 weeks old? Or can they still kind of go either way at this point? If a bird has biggish comb and wattles but no saddle feathers could there still be a chance it's a girl?

 

[DMSrabbit]

Quote:
The lady that sold me my BLRW's told me that she has been fooled by sex all the way until 4 months. I posted on here my 5 week old BLRW's and many people said to wait a little while before i know for sure. There are however clear indicators, saddle feathers= boy (pretty discernible at 2 months), really red combs = boys, but sometimes they change color.. I would wait for saddle feathers to know for sure, but #1 is def a splash pullet (a beauty at that), #2 you need to get a close up of the comb and the tail for us to know, and #3 is definitely a roo. From what origins are your BLRW's btw? I always like to know where peoples BLRW's are from as i am building my own flock of them right now, and always like to know where good bloodlines are located..

 

[cluckcluck42]

That's what I heard too so until I see saddle feathers I am going to maintain hope! I have two boys that look identical and both have saddle feathers starting then some of the ???'s don't have any. So, fingers crossed!

Is this guy a blue? He has some frosting on the top of his head, would that make him a non breeder?

Here is one of the splash roos with saddle feathers showing:

 

[cluckcluck42]

woops double post.

 

[cluckcluck42]

Anyone else wanna look at these guys?

 

[PeakyBeaky]

We have several young BLWR and have been "surprised" with 2 that look like boys in color-one even has a few saddle feathers...but at 10 months and no crowing, no big comb and now laying eggs...are girls. Your's don't scream "boy" to me...but maybe side shots would help. They are young yet too. From the little we have learned(in a really short time) wyandottes are tricky buggers when it comes to sexing them at an older age

Some folks can sex them at 1-3 days by wing feathers, but after that, it can be tricky unless they are obviously girls/boys(crowing). And it seems hatchery birds can be ever harder, due to their lack of typical coloration/type. Good luck, but don't give up yet!

 

[cluckcluck42]

Quote:
Awesome, you guys have made me feel a lot better! I hope I get pleasantly surprised. I'll take some better shots at some point, maybe in a few weeks when hopefully it will be more clear who is what. lol

Question- how early do BLRWs lay? I heard they typically are early layers and wonder if there is any truth to that.