7 week old Black Australorp- Roo/Pullet? 14 weeks old now on post #9

[GardeNerd]

Between my neighbor and I we have 2 Black Australorps we are unsure of the gender on. They are about seven weeks old; they will be 8 weeks on the 23rd of April. I have a Black Australorp 2 weeks older than these two with not much comb or waddle development yet, but she was a runt of her bunch. Both of these two are showing some pink waddles and pink on the base of the combs, but yellow around the tips. One has a longer tail. Any help guessing gender? They were part of a shipment of pullets, but we are starting to think they aren't part of the 90% accurate.
3 pictures of chick # 1

She/he was very upset about being on here, she doesn't always stand like this. Other than the waddles, she looks just like and acts like my older Australorp.

Chick #2 - 3 pictures

 

[Chicken Woman]

This is what my roo looked like at 7 weeks

See how red his comb is ?

 

[georgialee]

A total newbie here, but I do think they're pullets. If you look here: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Lorps/BRKLorps.html you can see that pullets still have combs and wattles. I think if they were roos their combs would be larger and bright red by now.

 

[GardeNerd]

With Australorps, do the waddles often develop this young? I know they have them eventually, but I was worried since my 9 week old Black Australorp doesn't have much yet, and they are flesh colored, not pink.

I have a leghorn Hybrid (Hyline W 36) and a Buff Orpington that are 10 weeks old and have yet to have any waddles, let alone pink waddles. Sorry, I am a real newbie to the gender development of chickens.

 

[GardeNerd]

Danib, If you got the chicks straight run, odds are, you will have to wait at least until they are 6 weeks old before they start showing initial signs of gender. However, since I first made this post back in 2009, I have had few chicks I thought were girls at 6 weeks age, that turned out to be boys, and chicks I was sure were boys that turned out to be girls. About 8 weeks it is a little easier and three months, even better. If you got the chicks as sexed pullets from a feed store or hatchery, they are pretty good at sexing them and 90% should be accurately sorted.

However on a side note...My 11 year old daughter did a school science project on sorting straight run chicks for gender. She tested a bunch of the old wives tales methods. The method that was the most reliable, was laying the chick on its back in the palm of the hand. The chicks that squirmed a lot and didn't relax after a few seconds, always turned out to be cockerels. The ones that laid still, were either girls or boys, but the test identified at least half of the boys with the squirming. We have used the method on a few different breeds and it is about 75% accurate, so it is at least better than a coin flip. It isn't perfect, but worth a try. Tail feather growth is another thing I keep an eye on. Boys sometimes have slower growing feathers in some breeds. I have lots of chick picks with some details on her science project at my blog Hanbury House, but it is just about bantam cochins, and I haven't raised any black australorps since 2010.

Best Wishes.

 

[danib]

I laid them on their backs when I held them, and they all calmed down. I was surprised. I was expecting them to freak out, but they were very chill. Hopefully they're all females Thanks again!

 

[artsyrobin]

here are pics of my roo and pullet

pullet:

roo:

 

[Mandalina]

#1 is a pullet and #2 is a roo
they are lovely birds!

 

[GardeNerd]

byrdluv and chicken women,

Thank you for taking the time to post those pics. It is comforting to see the difference and to see pictures of black australorps cockerels.

 

[Chicken Woman]

My baby girls had yellow wattles and comb. The roos started turning red at about 6 weeks.