3-4 month old Easter Eggers - sex ID help please!

[a7neu]

4 birds
- 2 partridge with hardly any comb development
- 1 dark bird with a single row pea comb
- 1 orange (buff?) bird with a single row pea comb

They were advertised as pullets and were supposed to be 3 months old when I got them Oct 6th.

I'm confident the partridges are pullets. I have my suspicions about the other two.

All 4 (partridges on left, suspects on right):

Suspect 1:

Suspect 2

If you'd like to see more photos, here is an album link: https://imgur.com/a/9Mm8E/layout/grid

Additional questions:

What color/pattern would you describe the suspects as?

Does the age seem right?

Thank you!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

The first one (orange) is definitely a cockerel- he has pointy saddle feathers.

Could you get a closeup picture of the second chicken's saddle feathers? I'm leaning toward cockerel for him, too.

 

[a7neu]

Thank you. I think these are the best I have of the dark bird.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thank you. I think these are the best I have of the dark bird.

I can't quite tell whether his saddle feathers are pointy or not...

EDIT: I zoomed in on some of your other pics and I'm pretty sure I see pointy saddle feathers. He's a cockerel.

 

[a7neu]

I thought as much... thanks for the confirmation! """Pullets""" lol

 

[Chicken Girl1]

It looks like you have two pairs. The partridge feathered ones are pullets and the other two are cockerels.

 

[drumstick diva]

At this point all I can tell you , is your German Shepherd has very good rear angulation.
Otherwise the thinking part of my brain isn't up yet - sorry.

 

[debid]

Both suspects are cockerels. They look about 10-12 weeks old now which puts them at about two months old when you got them rather than 3.

FWIW, the partridge male (black chest) could have been positively IDed as male by pattern around 3-4 weeks old. You can see how different he looks from the partridge females. The red one could have been less obvious in baby feathers but the juvenile plumage would have told the tale before the saddle feathers on him as well. That doesn't mean the seller knew this but they might have and unloading unwanted cockerels before they make themselves obvious is far too common.

 

[a7neu]

Thanks for the help everyone! I got the photos in the ad mixed up and when I went I thought I was buying older pullets so never even thought to read up on sexing.

He said he had nicer colored ones he was keeping for himself, and brought me the red cockerel from that bunch. The dark cockerel and pullets were in the main pen with others from the hatch and I caught them. I'd like to think he didn't knowingly rip me off, but who knows.

It's a shame because I do not want cockerels and I would not have paid $15 a piece for straight run! In hindsight I would have been better off getting a pair of cool point of lay pullets for $30 each.

I will be more careful next time (good to know about black breasts!)

 

[debid]

Thanks for the help everyone! I got the photos in the ad mixed up and when I went I thought I was buying older pullets so never even thought to read up on sexing.

He said he had nicer colored ones he was keeping for himself, and brought me the red cockerel from that bunch. The dark cockerel and pullets were in the main pen with others from the hatch and I caught them. I'd like to think he didn't knowingly rip me off, but who knows.

It's a shame because I do not want cockerels and I would not have paid $15 a piece for straight run! In hindsight I would have been better off getting a pair of cool point of lay pullets for $30 each.

I will be more careful next time (good to know about black breasts!)

In general, you should avoid any with flashy or patchy coloring to avoid getting cockerels. As with other birds, females tend to have a more drab and even pattern so they're less obvious on a nest while males have bright and flashy markings to impress females. There are some male-specific identifiers that can show very early like a black breast on a chipmunk chick and dark red or white in a patch form mid-wing.