New to Polish?

Hi!

My husband and I have a flock of 20, and just recently purchased two "female polish top-hats" (so said the man on craigslist....)

I'm wondering if anybody with more experience can tell me what they think of these two. The grey has a very obvious rounded 'mushroom' cap -- but "she" has wattles! The black one has insane crazy feathers and sort of struts and stands like our RIR-roo, but doesn't have any wattles. Both are around 12-14 weeks, neither is crowing yet.. but both are talkers.

Is there often this much difficulty sexing this breed? I've gone through a few other forums and threads about the top-hats and some females I've seen pictures of don't appear to have just a 'mushroom' shaped feather -- and some males don't appear to have wattles at all. All of our other breeds have been so obvious!

Thanks for any expertise!!

White Crested Blue Polish is a pullet, White Crested Black is a cockerel.

Well, that white crested blue is a male, for sure and certain. The other may also be male, judging by that upright stance, but a less developed one. Wait a few more weeks.

Blackberry18 said:

White Crested Blue Polish is a pullet, White Crested Black is a cockerel.

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I agree; cockerels develop long pointed crest feathers (like your WC Black Polish) sometimes referred to as the "rock star" look. Pullets have shorter rounder feathers in a much more rounded crest (like your WC Blue Polish).

Is it not unusual that the pullet has wattles and the cockerel doesn't? I think that's what's throwing me off.

Both are cockerels. The blue may have what looks like a round crest now, but I can see from the picture that there is an extra long feather in the back, which will soon multiply. At this age, I would say for certain its a boy. My wcblack hens didn't develop their wattles until about 5 and 1\2 months. And they were pink. The blue also has darker shades of blue where the female would really not. Females would be better a solid color blue.
The black is certainly a cockerel as well. His feathers are already spiky and he already has saddles and glossy shoulder feathers.

So both boys. And I would know. I raise and breed them. Frizzle and smooth. I mean... I raise and breed bantam whites and large fowl white crested black. The difference is notable to me from day 1 to 3 or as soon as they fully feather

HenHoarder said:

Is it not unusual that the pullet has wattles and the cockerel doesn't? I think that's what's throwing me off.

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It depends on the age of your birds. You were unsure of their age and gave a 12-14 week estimate which is potentially a three week difference. Based on your blue's feathering, it looks like a pullet to me and the larger red wattles would not be inconsistent with a 14 week old pullet as she nears her point of lay and her wattles become red and swollen. I'm thinking that this is likely the case here. However if your bird is only 12 weeks old, then the larger red wattles would indeed seem to scream cockerel. The feathering of your black looks like that of a cockerel and he may either be younger than your blue or just slower to mature.

PoultryQueen101 said:

Both are cockerels. The blue may have what looks like a round crest now, but I can see from the picture that there is an extra long feather in the back, which will soon multiply. At this age, I would say for certain its a boy. My wcblack hens didn't develop their wattles until about 5 and 1\2 months. And they were pink. The blue also has darker shades of blue where the female would really not. Females would be better a solid color blue.
The black is certainly a cockerel as well. His feathers are already spiky and he already has saddles and glossy shoulder feathers.

So both boys. And I would know. I raise and breed them. Frizzle and smooth. I mean... I raise and breed bantam whites and large fowl white crested black. The difference is notable to me from day 1 to 3 or as soon as they fully feather

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I was posting at the same time as PoultryQueen101 and didn't see her post until after I had finished mine but she may very well be correct in labeling them both cockerels.

PoultryQueen101 said:

Both are cockerels. The blue may have what looks like a round crest now, but I can see from the picture that there is an extra long feather in the back, which will soon multiply. At this age, I would say for certain its a boy. My wcblack hens didn't develop their wattles until about 5 and 1\2 months. And they were pink. The blue also has darker shades of blue where the female would really not. Females would be better a solid color blue.
The black is certainly a cockerel as well. His feathers are already spiky and he already has saddles and glossy shoulder feathers.

So both boys. And I would know. I raise and breed them. Frizzle and smooth. I mean... I raise and breed bantam whites and large fowl white crested black. The difference is notable to me from day 1 to 3 or as soon as they fully feather

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I agree, thanks for pointing that out.

Both are cockerels black is bearded and that's why he doesn't have wattles. Somebody loaded off a couple of Roos in the easiest possible way. Can you have Roos where you live?