Understand the difference in roo's and hen's in early stages

[bobcatdan]

I've been reading as much as I can about figuring out how to sex my 9 week pullets. I followed this link to see the developments in each sex full grown : https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-diagram-and-anatomy-of-a-chicken-pictures-and-labels

I am wondering at what age can you start looking for these exact changes?

 

[ochochicas]

Depending on the breed of your chicks, you should be able to tell by 9 weeks if they have cockerel characteristics or if they are pullets. My chicks are 9 weeks old. The boys started grown larger combs around 4 - 5 weeks. One of them had a very pronounced comb and red wattles at 5 weeks. He was also very slow to feather out which can indicate a cockerel. One of them started crowing at 5 weeks, and the other at 8 weeks. They all develop at different rates, but by 9 weeks most breeds seem to show some different characteristics between pullets and cockerels. If you have any pictures you should post them!

 

[SweetSilver]

From the diagrams: A lot of the feathering differences, aside from color differences in, say, Partridge varieties, take longer to see. You will not see pointed tail feathers or sickle feathers for a little while. Spur development won't happen for a few months. Meanwhile, comb and wattle development at 9 weeks can be significant compared to pullets.

If you have several 9wk chicks of the same breed, it's easier to see the differences unless they are all pullets or all cockerels. For our chicks, sometimes the only difference is the comb development. Our current batch of 8 week buff cochins are nearly the same size, same feathering, but--oh, boy!-- those combs!

 

[bobcatdan]

Here are my 4 9week of chicks. What do you think. I have 1 cuckoo marans, 1 buff orpington and 2 americanas



Tiny

Buffington

H.O

Sqeakers

 

[bobcatdan]

Ha. I feel bad for Sqeakers, she looks a lot better than that, the photo didn't give her beauty justice

 

[K Spot]

Your EE's are pullets, your BO is a roo and I'm not 100% sure on the Marans. Need a full body shot for that one.

 

[bobcatdan]

I hope these pictures can help identify

 

[bobcatdan]

This is of her back side

 

[ashtree]

Im gonna guess the BO is your only roo

 

[bobcatdan]

Im waiting and hoping