15 week old white Sussex either masculine hen, or feminine cockeral!!

[salsan20]

I don't know if white Sussex are slower developing the red comb and wattles as have culled a few cockerals that were obvious weeks and weeks ago, this one I just can't decide!

Behaviour: more skittish like my hen rather than my other confident cockerals, vocal clucking no crowing as yet, can bully the littler birds.

Looks:rounded like a hen but far more pronounced wattles and comb than my hen the same age, big feet and her tail is mid way between what I would expect from hen or cockeral. The first photo is 13 weeks the next is today at 16 weeks

 

[Sunshine0235]

It looks like a roo to me.

 

[salsan20]

Me too, its just baffled me as to why its not more obvious, the blurred black and white striped one in the background is 5 weeks and more obviously a too, is it normal for them to take this long to get bright red wattles etc? I don't have much experience with white Sussex so I'm loathe to cull if its still possible to be a hen, but equally there is only so long I want to fatten a bird destined for the table!

 

[Sunshine0235]

Are the feathers right before the tail pointy or rounded? The group picture looks like it has pointed hackle feathers, but it is hard to see the saddle feathers in pictures on a white bird.

And as for the slowness to develop could just be genetics, like how some people sexually mature faster than others.

 

[salsan20]

If you click on the pictures they enlarge, I think the saddle feathers are rounded but the hackles are pointed!!

 

[Aphrael]

Ok, I don't think this is gonna help any.... but to me, in the first pic it looks very much like a cockerel, but in the second pic it definitely looks like a pullet.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Do you perhaps have the order of photos reversed? I ask because the bird appears older in the first photo (with the duck) than the second (alone) but your text states the opposite. The photo with the duck looks very cockerelish. Also, your bird is a Light Sussex, not white.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
The hackle feathers are what matters. If they are pointed, then it's a cockerel.
The proper name is Light Sussex.
This is a pullet in the picture on the right. I had several like that in my hatches this year. Her black balancing is off. Too much black and the Co isn't able to hold it in the hackle, it is bleeding out on the back. If you mentally shove the black up off the back and onto the hackle, it's obvious she is a pullet. Also, look at the front half of her comb. No way, at this age, it stays that small on a cockerel. Comely little girl. Bit of a cushion on the back at the base of the tail, it can be bred out with the right cock.
Best,
Karen

 

[salsan20]

Thank you Karen, her behaviour is pullet like but I just couldn't tell! It sounds like you have experience with the breed? I wont be breeding these as they are just my little backyard flock (4 of them, this one, grey one and the black and whie striped young cockeral pictured and my pretty Maria who I have no idea as to her heratige!

Lol me to Aphrael, this is why I haven't been able to decide either way!

 

[Aphrael]

Thank you Karen, her behaviour is pullet like but I just couldn't tell! It sounds like you have experience with the breed? I wont be breeding these as they are just my little backyard flock (4 of them, this one, grey one and the black and whie striped young cockeral pictured and my pretty Maria who I have no idea as to her heratige!

Lol me to Aphrael, this is why I haven't been able to decide either way!

If Maria is the one you have pictured here, her coloring looks a LOT like one of my EEs.