Breed and gender questions.

[zagmum]

I got these beauties from a breeder that has mostly specialty breeds. A lot of English Orpingtons. He told me these were cuckoo. Pardon my ignorance but I am not familiar with this breed and didn't realize they could have a barred plumage? Also these birds have developed exactly the same, they look exactly the same except for one has slightly larger comb and wattle and one is slightly bigger overall. The feathering looks very female when they were babies they had the perfect round dot on their head indicating female? and A little black splash down the leg. Also now at 6-7 weeks their legs/feet don't seem to be big and their stance is usually very pullet-ish. All the indicators to be pullet but now those comb and wattles have me concerned I have 2 males? Thanks in advance for any replies?

 

[zephyricle]

Cuckoo is a color variety, not a breed :/
They are barred, not cuckoo. From what it looks like they could be one of two breeds that come to mind. Barred rock or dominique. Do they have single combs? I can't quite tell.
They both look female to me, but here's a little tip. Once they get to about 10+ weeks, they'll molt again. Once they start growing in feathers, watch their saddle beathers. If they start growing in pointy then you got a boy

Hope this helps

 

[zagmum]

Cuckoo is a color variety, not a breed :/
They are barred, not cuckoo. From what it looks like they could be one of two breeds that come to mind. Barred rock or dominique. Do they have single combs? I can't quite tell.
They both look female to me, but here's a little tip. Once they get to about 10+ weeks, they'll molt again. Once they start growing in feathers, watch their saddle beathers. If they start growing in pointy then you got a boy

Hope this helps

 

[zagmum]

Yes. They have single comb. And this is very helpful. Thank you so much.

 

[zephyricle]

Most likely barred rock then. I'd say look up some pis of barred rocks and do some comparisons of the pullets and chicks. Dominique shouldn't have single combs but every so often you get one with one because of poor breeding strains, but I wouldn't worry too much about that.
It's no problem, good luck

 

[-Wirth-]

There is often times confusion between cuckoo maran and barred rock hens. Do a quick search on the forum and you'll see several threads about it. I suspect something like this happened to you and your breeder. He or she may have both or may have them miscategorized, or may have had a mixup all together.

 

[BantamLover21]

Both barred birds look like cockerels to me. I haven't seen Cuckoo English Orpingtons, but I know they have a lot of color varieties, so your birds could certainly be purebred English Orpingtons.

 

[drumstick diva]

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