Cuckoo marans

[hdowden]

This is why I'm confused. My chicks look like the ones in the rear!

This pic is listed as a hen. Nice waddle!

those are adults and your chicks resemble the rooster in the front rather than the dull looking hens in the back. your chicks are nice and vibrant in coloring the reason your's have the look of the hens wattles and comb is because they are 9 weeks old and not 1 year olds you have to remember you are dealing with little baby chicks and not full grown adults like these pics above....

the cockerel is in the front (yours look a lot like these just with the cuckoo pattern) and the pullet is in the back (these are barred rocks but pure barred and cuckoo birds feather out the same way cockerels vibrant pullets dull)

 

[donrae]

Audioguy, where did you get your birds? I'm sure they're male, just not sure they're pure cuckoo

 

[audioguy]

We got them locally from a farmer that admitted they were not sex linked so trying to figure it out while there was next to impossible. We checked the feather length, and even tried looking at the vent. I'm no expert, so I guessed. Epic failure!

Oh well, we will find them a good home, I hope!

 

[popsicle]

This is the photo I was referring to:


Your birds look more like the cockerel in the middle.

 

[audioguy]

It looks like there are a few variations since the photos that I posted look different and they are hens! Do the shanks tell part of the story? Here are a few photos of the legs! Maybe this will help? I do not see the spurs sometimes found on cockerels. Its all wishful thinking on my part!

 

[donrae]

Spurs aren't reliable. Some hens get spur buds and some roos don't get them until a year. But those are some very thick legs, usually a male indicator.

 

[audioguy]

It appear that nothing is reliable with sexing chicks. Even the pros are only good 90% of the time! I guess I will wait it out and see what happens.

Is there a way to find out if someone wants a cockerel? Around here they are put out for the foxes!

 

[Pele]

It appear that nothing is reliable with sexing chicks. Even the pros are only good 90% of the time! I guess I will wait it out and see what happens.

Is there a way to find out if someone wants a cockerel? Around here they are put out for the foxes!

You're right, there really isn't a 100% reliable way, but you can have a reasonably high percentage of accuracy when you examine a group of hints about the bird all together. That's what we try to do here in the gender forum when we guess breeds. Wiegh a collection of hints and features that we know either one or another gender has in a specific breed, then make an educated guess.

Craigslist is a very good way to post a rooster. If you don't want someone local having him, then post for a nearby city, and offer to drive him.

 

[audioguy]

I totally understand markings, and other attributes that have successfully sexed the chicks. But from the pictures I've seen they seem very contradictory in that one pic shows a hen with a crown and waddle, although not as pronounced as the rooster, and then another pic with a smooth head, but both hens. The rooster's crown and waddle are very pronounced and very red, again, unlike the hens pictured.
Just from one site that show cuckoo marans, there are hens with and without crowns. We have a bunch of EE's that have both and all lay. Someone is mixing up the DNA!!

Having purchased them from a local farm guarantees nothing. They have started to what looks like early cock fighting in the brooder. I guess for pecking order. The instigator is the darker one with the largest crown.
I should stop being so concerned and wait and see how they really turn out.......

 

[Pele]

I totally understand markings, and other attributes that have successfully sexed the chicks. But from the pictures I've seen they seem very contradictory in that one pic shows a hen with a crown and waddle, although not as pronounced as the rooster, and then another pic with a smooth head, but both hens. The rooster's crown and waddle are very pronounced and very red, again, unlike the hens pictured.
Just from one site that show cuckoo marans, there are hens with and without crowns. We have a bunch of EE's that have both and all lay. Someone is mixing up the DNA!!

Having purchased them from a local farm guarantees nothing. They have started to what looks like early cock fighting in the brooder. I guess for pecking order. The instigator is the darker one with the largest crown.
I should stop being so concerned and wait and see how they really turn out.......

The hen you are looking at is a fully MATURE adult that is laying. Your chicks are babies, there's no comparing the two. The onlyreason that a female chicken would have a red comb and wattle set is if she is mature and laying. However, male chickens redden up very very very early (I've had one that started to grow and redden at week 3). It's a very telltale sign of gender.

Here is a picture of a hen that is MUCH older than your babies, but not mature or laying yet. Even at several months of age, a female chicken will have a pale and undeveloped comb. In a few months, when she IS mature, she'll rapidly grow her comb and wattle in a matter of weeks. But not until she's fertile and mature.