4 week orps, girl or boy?

[Nugget]

*Edited*
Hi all! I figured I'd post pics of my own little doofuses. They're a couple of days short of 4 weeks old. The first 3 are buff orps, the last 2 are GLWs. Do you think they're boys or girls??
TIA

Bubbles

Beaker

No name yet

Jubejube (I think Jubejube's a roo)

Jubejube again

Twinkie (so sweet!)

 

[Nugget]

What is a good age to reliably sex an orpington btw?

 

[Nugget]

bump
oops

 

[Mrs.Busybody]

When I was in my local farm store the other day, this lady who's dh raised and sold chicks for ages was there. She was buying chicks and she only wanted pullets. She was choosing from the st. runs they had. I was watching her for the longest time because I had no idea how she was figuring out what was a pullet and what was a roo. Finally I could take it no longer. So I asked.

She said, "Look. You hold up the baby chick and kind of dangle it." (which I noticed she had been doing but couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was doing! Was she looking at the genitalia? Did she know some secret butt wiggle?)

Anyway, when the chick is dangling there, if both feet totally drop down, it's a pullet. She was very certain of the ones that were pullets and the ones that were roos.

Not sure if this is a tried and true practice, if she's totally off her rocker or if she's just the smartest country bumpkin to ever cross my path, but I thought i'd pass it along, for what it's worth.

Jennifer

 

[Nugget]

Thanks Mrs, I've heard several suggestions along those lines (hang by the feet and if they struggle they're boys... wasn't there one about hanging a needle on a thread or something too?) and to be honest I haven't tried any yet

Its the secondary characteristics I'm looking into, but not sure if 4 weeks is too soon for the little guys. So far I don't appreciate any 'pinkness' in any of the orpingtons, just Jubejube. If it's for real its the first time since I got my first chicks last August that I had any luck with the sexes!!! Til now I was batting 80% roos. If these are mostly girls my average will improve a lot!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

For Buff Orps, the boys will soon develop pinker combs and wattles. They are also slower to grow out their wing and tail feathers.

 

[ChickPeas]

I heard that..the guy that sold me my chicks at TSC told me that if you hold the chicks by the head and suspend them about an inch, the boys drop their legs straight down, the girls draw them up.

I supposedly bought all girls...he was wrong on almost half! 5 out of my 12 are cockerels!! Being a newbie I thought this chump knew what he was talking about...obviously not. I'll not trust that method again!

 

[dedern]

Did jujube and twinkie look alike as chicks. Cause I have 2 GLW One as a chick had stripes down the back, Hense the name Indy. Now as 6 weekers can't differentiate. But one looks just like jujube in the comb , but they do have a pea comb anyway. And is pinker also in the waddles. Hense the new name Abe. Doesnt have as much coloring in the neck area though.

 

[debakadeb]

I'm only guessing as I'm a very new chick-mom, but pics 1, 2, and the last one look like girls. I think you probably need to wait a couple more weeks to be totally sure.

 

[Nugget]

Jubejube and Twinkie are siblings from the same mom and dad (ours) and were our first incubator hatch. They looked identical as babies but Jubejube sliced his eyelid on his eggshell when hatching. Poor guy was sore and I had to treat the eye for infection. It put him a little behind developmentally so he's smaller than the others. They're 2 days apart in age and the difference in their combs and wattles is quite striking.