MrsEarthern
Songster
Please read entire post- I am asking about what traits help you identify gender between 6-8 weeks of age.
The local breeder I got my birds from has 7-8 week old birds available, I would like to pick up a few more females but at this age I'm not great at sexing and neither is she.
They are supposed to be Buff Orpington - Blue Australorp crosses, but there are other breeds in the mix. They may have Americana/EE, Plymouth Blue Rock, Silverlace Wyandotte and/or White Leghorn in them. I'm pretty sure she wants to keep the white and mostly white birds, but not any of the barred or pigmented.
My roos seem to have the classic single comb common to leghorns, while my girls each have different combs. One has a small pendulous single comb and the other has a very small paler comb, flesh/white when I got her, wattles were the same color, seems healthy and there has been a slight increase is pinkness as she has grown but she's still much paler than her sister.
My plan is to look for skinny legs, small combs, and I'm thinking there's a good chance the barred or partridge/brown birds are female, I am iffy on the blue/lavenders that show any buff/brown, and I'm guessing any black birds with white or yellow are male.
I will try to look at feather shape but what else should I be looking for in order to get females? Pictures are some of the birds available, as well as her existing flock, so you can get an idea of what I mean by the colors mentioned.
The local breeder I got my birds from has 7-8 week old birds available, I would like to pick up a few more females but at this age I'm not great at sexing and neither is she.
They are supposed to be Buff Orpington - Blue Australorp crosses, but there are other breeds in the mix. They may have Americana/EE, Plymouth Blue Rock, Silverlace Wyandotte and/or White Leghorn in them. I'm pretty sure she wants to keep the white and mostly white birds, but not any of the barred or pigmented.
My roos seem to have the classic single comb common to leghorns, while my girls each have different combs. One has a small pendulous single comb and the other has a very small paler comb, flesh/white when I got her, wattles were the same color, seems healthy and there has been a slight increase is pinkness as she has grown but she's still much paler than her sister.
My plan is to look for skinny legs, small combs, and I'm thinking there's a good chance the barred or partridge/brown birds are female, I am iffy on the blue/lavenders that show any buff/brown, and I'm guessing any black birds with white or yellow are male.
I will try to look at feather shape but what else should I be looking for in order to get females? Pictures are some of the birds available, as well as her existing flock, so you can get an idea of what I mean by the colors mentioned.
Last edited: