Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[bruceha2000]

I would say both hens. They both look like my two EE pullets but I also have two EE Roosters all of which were sexed from the hatchery as pullets. I wish all four of mine were hens.

Which hatchery? 50% is WAY bad and WAY below the 90% most big hatcheries guarantee. Of course "guarantee" doesn't mean you'll never get more than 1 cockerel in a group of 10 sexed pullets. It just means they will refund your money on the ones that aren't the proper gender. Still, I wouldn't want to give repeat business to a hatchery that managed only 50%.

 

[FuzzFaceFarm]

We are going to try and keep one of them an see if the "no-crow rooster collar helps".

 

[FuzzFaceFarm]

I know, right! They were supposedly sexed as pullets. At 50% pullet/cockerel it might as well be straight run. I bought them from a local feed store that had brooders with 4 different breeds of chicks but I'm not sure what hatchery they got them from. I will have to ask when I go back and I will update you all about it. They had maybe 20-30 EEs left in a brooder and I picked out 4. I just figured that with my luck she had probably picked out the 2 roosters out of the whole bunch and I ended up with them!!! I got 8 chicks at the time and they're about 8 weeks old now and it seems all but the two are pullets.

 

[AUChickenGal]

My new Easter Egger babies are only 4 weeks old, so it's a bit early to tell for sure, but I think I have two pullets and a cockerel. Thoughts?

Hootie is the "wild type"/partridge looking female with the dark eyeliner. Miss Piggy is the black one with tan barring showing up in her new feathers. The silver/black one is unnamed and the one I suspect may be a cockerel. He/she had much thicker legs, a more upright stance, and a more pronounced and pinker comb than the other two. I will be delighted if I'm wrong and it is a female, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[bruceha2000]

I know, right! They were supposedly sexed as pullets. At 50% pullet/cockerel it might as well be straight run. I bought them from a local feed store that had brooders with 4 different breeds of chicks but I'm not sure what hatchery they got them from. I will have to ask when I go back and I will update you all about it. They had maybe 20-30 EEs left in a brooder and I picked out 4. I just figured that with my luck she had probably picked out the 2 roosters out of the whole bunch and I ended up with them!!! I got 8 chicks at the time and they're about 8 weeks old now and it seems all but the two are pullets.

All bets on gender are OFF when you buy them at the feed store. Sure, the hatchery shipped them sexed and the people at the store put them in sexed bins but who knows how many are picked up from one bin and put back in another. IIRC, it was @Blooie who saw a "sex link pullet bin" at a feed store that had male sex links in it. The person at the store was insistent that they were female because they were in the pullet bin.

With most breeds (and non breeds like EEs) you can't tell the boys from the girls until they are many weeks old. And just because someone works at the store doesn't mean they know a dang thing about chicks.

 

[FuzzFaceFarm]

All bets on gender are OFF when you buy them at the feed store. Sure, the hatchery shipped them sexed and the people at the store put them in sexed bins but who knows how many are picked up from one bin and put back in another. IIRC, it was @Blooie who saw a "sex link pullet bin" at a feed store that had male sex links in it. The person at the store was insistent that they were female because they were in the pullet bin.

With most breeds (and non breeds like EEs) you can't tell the boys from the girls until they are many weeks old. And just because someone works at the store doesn't mean they know a dang thing about chicks.

That's what I figured. So I guess I'm pretty lucky to have gotten 6 females (it seems so far) out of 8 birds then! Of course I would love to have gotten all females since we want eggs and live in the city so aren't supposed to have any roosters but I didn't expect it to happen given that I was buying them at the feed store. The girl there had even told me "If you want to end up with 8 hens you better buy 10 since some might die and you might get some roosters" I didn't want to get more than 8 at the time though because that's the number I'm allowed to have on my lot. I think we're going to keep the big roo because he seems to be doing a good job taking care of the ladies and I'm going to try the "no-crow rooster collar" with him. The little roo will go to my brother's friend if he wants him or he will end up in the pot. I love them no matter where they came from!!!

 

[mymilliefleur]

My new Easter Egger babies are only 4 weeks old, so it's a bit early to tell for sure, but I think I have two pullets and a cockerel. Thoughts?

Hootie is the "wild type"/partridge looking female with the dark eyeliner. Miss Piggy is the black one with tan barring showing up in her new feathers. The silver/black one is unnamed and the one I suspect may be a cockerel. He/she had much thicker legs, a more upright stance, and a more pronounced and pinker comb than the other two. I will be delighted if I'm wrong and it is a female, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

The black and white one in this picture is looking suspicous. Keep an eye on it, if it is a cockerel you'll probably see rusty patches come in on its wings/shoulders in a few weeks, along with a lot of comb growth. The other two look like pullets.

 

[AUChickenGal]

The black and white one in this picture is looking suspicous. Keep an eye on it, if it is a cockerel you'll probably see rusty patches come in on its wings/shoulders in a few weeks, along with a lot of comb growth. The other two look like pullets.

Thanks. That's kind of what I'm thinking. I'd love it if we were both wrong, but my gut says that the black and white one is a male. I know I have one for sure Welsummer cockerel in this bunch of 10, and there are a couple of others that could go either way. I can only keep one rooster max, so he who is prettiest and best behaved will win that honor. The others will either be given away or go to freezer camp.

 

[Rozzychick]

These girls are 6 months. No squatting, no sign of laying. My other girls, assorted breeds were laying by 4-5 months. Is it because they came of age in November/December? Will they wait till spring? I don't use a light, but the roof of the coop is clear polycarbonate.

 

[junebuggena]

These girls are 6 months. No squatting, no sign of laying. My other girls, assorted breeds were laying by 4-5 months. Is it because they came of age in November/December? Will they wait till spring? I don't use a light, but the roof of the coop is clear polycarbonate.

The one on the left looks like she's ready to start, if not laying already. Are you sure she isn't laying? Easter Eggers don't always lay blue or green. She could be laying brown, cream, or even white.