5 week EE’s - Too Early?

[Amiloo928]

Ever since hatch day, I have had a suspicion that one of these little babies is a roo. “He” was bigger than the other at hatch, has been far more outgoing and noisy, and definitely instigates mischief by standing up tall, raising his head, and rushing at the smaller one frequently.

Is it too soon to confirm?

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

that's a boy.

 

[Alexandra33]

At this point, and taking that comb into consideration, I'm thinking cockerel.

Most (certainly not all, but a large percentage of) black and white EEs turn out to be male.

~Alex

 

[KikiLeigh02]

X3! It is early, but the one in the front does look like a cockerel. The coloration and thick legs make me think they both might be cockerels.

 

[Amiloo928]

X3! It is early, but the one in the front does look like a cockerel. The coloration and thick legs make me think they both might be cockerels.

Oh I hope they aren’t both cockerels! We aren’t allowed to have “crowing roosters” in our neighborhood, and we’ve already talked about getting a collar if the little dark one is male, but I wouldn’t want to keep two males, since we are limited on the number of birds we can keep in the city. Gosh, I’ll be so sad if neither of them are hens. Makes me even more grateful we have 7 in the incubator ready to hatch any day now!

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

A little Roo you got there, not sure about other one though.

 

[Amiloo928]

I got some better photos of their faces tonight.

Any further opinions?

 

[Cindy in PA]

I had one last year that looked like the one on the left. She was white, then black & white with the partridge coloring (?) of that one. She grew into a beautiful gray & white pullet with a salmon breast. The right one looks like a roo. Does it have red coming in on the shoulder? Most roos have red there.

 

[Amiloo928]

I had one last year that looked like the one on the left. She was white, then black & white with the partridge coloring (?) of that one. She grew into a beautiful gray & white pullet with a salmon breast. The right one looks like a roo. Does it have red coming in on the shoulder? Most roos have red there.

I didn’t notice red on the shoulders of the darker chick, but if you look at his chin, you can see red there, which I’m pretty sure are wattles coming in. I don’t see any red or pink on the lighter chick’s chin yet.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree with Amiloo; the darker chick is pretty definitely a cockerel, and the other chick is too soon to tell.
Plan for alternative homes for your boys NOW! You could possibly have seven more boys to rehome, so be ready.
If you can't have crowing (who knows why?) plan to move them all on. Those collars are not harmless and have caused deaths.
Or, move to a more congenial neighborhood, or work to change the rules where you are.
Mary