Silver Laced Wyandotte gender?

[lauranickerson]

Lol yeah, watch out for the folks who say they like or don't mind the crowing.. Not to slur your neighbours, whom I have of course never met, but in my experience that sort is often a person who is so uncomfortable stating their mind that they resort to passive aggressive methods of obtaining their desires. Like creeping through the bushes at night with a machete to attack your roosters despite always having claimed they are fine with them. Almost nobody I've kept roosters near, so far, has really been fine with them despite their repeated claims to the opposite. I hope your experience is better!

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Haha. We're pretty close with them, and they are extremely nice. They are filthy rich and have all sorts of animals themselves, except for birds of any sort. They have cows, mini horses, a dog and cat that run over to our place all the time. They're really good people. Their last dog used to come over all the time and we never minded it, but when we mentioned it in casual conversation long after that, he said if it bothered us, he wouldn't be opposed to getting rid of the dog or even shooting it, which, of course, we were little kids and cried and begged him not to. Haha.

You'd just have to meet them. They're amazing people.

 

[chooks4life]

They sound like great neighbours. Hopefully they stay that way. I'm fairly done with all the stress from people not being honest, I've always valued honesty and have often believed the best of folks just because they spoke the best about themselves. Stupid, I know... But, benefit of the doubt! Best wishes.

 

[lauranickerson]

They are awesome neighbors. We're thankful. We have been neighbors for almost 25 years.

Now my other neighbors? They're crazy. lol. Good thing they can't hear what happens over here.

 

[lauranickerson]

SO here are some pictures I just took. Doing the math, these chickies are about 16-17 weeks now. I know everyone is against me on this, but I'm reeeeaaaally thinking pullet. I know the coloring is a little white, but I've done some searching and there are some whiter ones.

Still not nearly the redness and size on the comb/wattles that every other young cockerel I've ever seen have by this age.

Even my 6 week old BLR Wyandotte cockerel has more wattles and redness than this.

 

[chooks4life]

Originally I thought cockerel because I am no expert with purebreds and assumed the two you initially showed were of breed standard. The dark one beside it, which looked like a pullet for sure, made the paler one look far more like a cockerel. If both had been breed standard then this would be a male but now it looks like the pullet was something else.

The bird in question is feathering nicely and looks healthy. I don't much like the scales on its legs, deviating from the 'straight up the shin from the middle toe' rule, but this is now common in many breeds whereas once it was a big no-no, so it's possible it no longer indicates spraddled chicks to come. I am eradicating all even slightly abnormal leg scales from my flock, having found out where that ends. If someone's managed to get the progressive twisting of the scales (which indicate the bones beneath) to stop the progression, then it'd be fine and nothing to worry about. I don't know the SOP for that breed off by heart so I don't know if that's still allowed. But either way that only matters if it's an ongoing problem or you're intending to show.

I see no male feathering on it, but something about the crest color, the eyes, the stance, and a few minor points still looks male to me. But, I am no expert on breeds, and it's entirely possible this is as you think, a pullet. Given how old it is, we will soon know for sure.

If it is indeed a pullet, then she has vibrant health if her peripheral circulation is any indication (and as a rule, it does indicate good overall health). It shows something you're doing is working quite well for them; generally the biggest determinant is what you're feeding. I still associate that depth of red with a male's crest and wattles but I guess I will learn something from this, one way or another. Best wishes.

 

[lauranickerson]

It's amazing how much you know!

I'm hoping for a pullet. But if it was a rooster, I'd be okay with that, too. He/she is really nice, so I'd rather that over the roos I have now. Then I'd have two wyandotte roos once my BLRW matured.

Anywho. These little ones are free range all day long every day except at night. I toss some food out in the morning for them to scratch up, but that's it. I think that's one of the healthiest things for them, personally.

Thank you for all your advice and expertise! You still know more than me!

 

[PeakyBeaky]

It's a pullet-no question.

 

[lauranickerson]

It's a pullet-no question.

Finally a glimmer of hope! That's what I've been thinking all along! Not a single male feather on it yet.

Do you know much about Wyandottes? Why would it have what appears to be a straight comb? It came from Townline Hatchery.

 

[Kev]

yeah agree it's a pullet by feather pattern. Look at the back and wing(the arm part not the big feathers) of silver lace roos. Basically hens have lacing all over, roos can have solid-ish color on the back and wing areas.

Roosters pure for rose comb have lowered fertility due to their sperm being mobile on average for only three days compared to easily over a week for any other comb type- even a rose combed roo that isn't pure for the rose comb gene has normal fertility. So, not being pure for rose comb gives the roo an edge in fertility, especially in a large breeding group of several roosters and many, many hens like hatchery stock setup.

It shows up in low numbers because rose comb is dominant, if both parents have a rose comb then most of the chicks will be rose combed. If several of the birds happen to be pure for rose comb, then single comb chicks will be even lower in numbers. btw- comb type has no effect on hen fertility.

btw being pure for rose comb is not much of an issue if the roo has only a few hens or only one hen available.. he should be breeding them often enough to maintain fertility.

 

[PeakyBeaky]

Hatchery birds have a higher chance of getting a single comb-they can have more "mixed" breeds in the mix that will throw a single comb. So, I'm not surprised that bird is from a hatchery-I would expect it to be from one.

Finally a glimmer of hope! That's what I've been thinking all along! Not a single male feather on it yet.

Do you know much about Wyandottes? Why would it have what appears to be a straight comb? It came from Townline Hatchery.