Silver Laced Wyandotte gender?

[lauranickerson]

I'd love to get everyone's opinion.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

the with a lot more white is a cockerel

 

[lauranickerson]

That is sooo pooey.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

I don't get why the white makes it a cockerel :shrug I've had plenty of whiter pullets. Could you do a leg side by side difference? If it is a cockerel his should be obviously thicker.
His comb seems redder though.
Still on the fence, but leaning to roo, sorry

 

[lauranickerson]

I will try to get a picture tomorrow.

Just for reference, here was my other chicks at about 10 weeks (basically same age...cockerels of course).

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I don't get why the white makes it a cockerel :shrug I've had plenty of whiter pullets. Could you do a leg side by side difference? If it is a cockerel his should be obviously thicker.
His comb seems redder though.
Still on the fence, but leaning to roo, sorry

I wasnt saying the white is why it is a cockerel. That is just how I was describing the one that is a cockerel

 

[lauranickerson]

Sorry about the delay. Here's a picture of their legs right next to each other. They look the same to me, especially in real life.

 

[chooks4life]

At 7 weeks the comb isn't very red. I've had a lot of yellow-combed pullets with big combs

That depends on diet. If you feed them a pinch of kelp per bird per day, by the third generation your week old chicks will have red combs and wattles. Kelp is a natural multivitamin and mineral supplement and an endocrine regulator and also a carminative. It makes them calmer and more instinctive minus the flightiness or aggression, and protects from many diseases.

Side note: they are 'wattles' not 'waddles' --- common mistake people make, rather like 'defiantly' instead of 'definitely' and maybe autocorrect-related.

I don't get why the white makes it a cockerel :shrug I've had plenty of whiter pullets.

I wasnt saying the white is why it is a cockerel. That is just how I was describing the one that is a cockerel

The reason his whiteness indicates his gender is because compared to the pullet next to him, he has very close to the same amount of base white in his plumage... The difference you see, that extra whiteness, is due to his fancier rooster feathers coming through. If he was a pullet he'd have the same amount of white as the girl there.

In the very first pic of him the threadstarter posted, you see his male feathering is already obvious, which is slightly unusual for a male without a developed crest and wattles. If you look closely at his neck, up higher near the head especially, and compare him to the pullet next to him, you can see the difference in feather type. Also, on his wings in the shoulder area, and his flanks either side of his rump, you should now see rooster feathers emerging. Also his blotchier, less pencilled/partridge style patterning of white and black on the feathers is a common rooster sign.

 

[LR Gamefarm]

no they should have a rosecomb it probably was a mix up at the hatchery would say a cross

 

[chooks4life]

Looked at the other pics, and I believe the barred rock type birds are possibly female. They show no rooster feathering, but that could be due to slow maturity; the bottom pic of a barred rock type bird has one or two green-sheened tail feathers which means it may be male.

A red comb and wattles, regardless of size, only means the chook is maturing well. Different breeds have different development rates and different wattles and comb sizes. Also the top photo of the red is a definite male, and in the lower photo of the reds the closest one is definitely male as it shows male wing and tail feathering beginning to sprout, but the red behind that one I'm not sure is male.

I have seen a white bantam breed whose males and females were the size of wild pigeons at best, but had huge red combs over four inches tall and over six inches long, about 3cm thick. They struggled to lift their heads. It is all just due to variations of genes.

If you want to be able to sex them from their first week, use kelp in their food. They will be showing their gender from a much younger age, and the males will be rooster-feathered from a third of the size of the ones in the pics. Also, you more or less don't get egg-binding issues when feeding kelp, since it manages the hormonal system so well. Also it is necessary for true genetic 'show' of what the bird's made of.

I've brought in old hens that were raised without kelp, which were pure white, feathers/legs/beaks and pale eyes, laying white eggs, supposedly purebreds. When fed kelp with every meal for a year, their next moult left one greyish, offwhite, with pale yellow legs, yellow eyes, yellow beak, etc and the other got a black stripe down her beak, bright yellow legs, beak, and orange eyes, and red and black splotches through her feathers. Both started laying pinkish brownish eggs.

This happens to all older animals suddenly changed onto a diet with kelp, it makes their phenotype tell the truth about their genotype. No proper purebred breeder should breed without it because they literally do not know what they are breeding. The animals will only show their true inherited colors when on a truly complete diet, and the stores almost never sell those, despite their 'complete diet' claims. You have to find a feed with kelp or add it to the feed. Otherwise you're seeing a diluted or false version of what you're really breeding. Kelp also helps make sure the best genes are passed on. What the diet is made of determines to a large extent which genes are switched on or off.

Best wishes. Even if you doubt my claims about kelp, please try it, you'll be amazed.

EDIT: looked at the black and white 'pullet' and it may just be a slower male... About the legs, it's a fallacy that males always have thicker legs, it depends on breed.