Amazing St. Run, no sign of a rooster.

[Yardmom]

At 3 weeks it is to early to sex them by sight. In another three weeks the boys should start to show who they are
Our first ordered straight run chicks were 24 pullets and 1 cockerel. I figured the hatchery did a double mistake sent pullets, but one wasn't. Over the years we have had plenty of male chicks to make up for it.. Rhode Island white 18 male 4 pullets. Breeder quality barred rock 8 male 2 female. Amber links all male. Brown leg horns 6 male to 2 female and the list goes on.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

At 3 weeks it is to early to sex them by sight. In another three weeks the boys should start to show who they are
Our first ordered straight run chicks were 24 pullets and 1 cockerel. I figured the hatchery did a double mistake sent pullets, but one wasn't. Over the years we have had plenty of male chicks to make up for it.. Rhode Island white 18 male 4 pullets. Breeder quality barred rock 8 male 2 female. Amber links all male. Brown leg horns 6 male to 2 female and the list goes on.

Is why I always order pullets, not SR. I often order a certain number of pullets plus some cockerels. They never seem to make mistakes when I do that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What's the chance?

I count 10 chicks. So if it is pure straight run your odds of getting 10 pullets and no cockerels is 1 in 1024. Not impossible but you'd have to try 1024 times to get it to happen once if the odds worked as they should. That's a problem with odds, you never know what will actually happen with each time. As someone on here recently said, you can predict groups but you cannot predict individuals. An individual occurrence may be in the middle of the pack or on an extreme.

My extreme example is 7 pullets out of 6 chicks. Even the packing peanut was a pullet. The odds of that happening are 1 in 128. The odds are not impossible but I wonder if the hatchery did not make a mistake like Yardmom mentioned and sent them all from their pullet bin. Mine were vent sexed, the odds of them making a mistake are about 10% with vent sexing full sized fowl chicks.

Most hatcheries don't try to sex bantams by vent sexing. They are so small it is really hard. I don't know where you got your chicks but straight run may be the only option with bantams. After that first experience I now order what sex I want. With my goals that may mean 5 pullets if I really want pullets but usually I get around 20 cockerels so I can keep the best as flock master and eat the rest. Different people, different goals.

I agree three weeks is too early to be sure. Give it at least another two weeks. Instead of looking at tail feathers and stuff that does not work, look at the comb and wattles. If a 5 week old chick has wattles it is probably a boy. The combs can start turning red about then and with RIR the comb may be really growing. If your EE's are pea combed it can be harder to judge by the comb.

I also look at the legs. Cockerels tend to have thicker legs than the girls. Boys tend to be more upright in posture while the girls bend over more. Boys tend to be braver and more adventurist while the girls tend to hang back.

None of these are definite, some boys can be slow to develop and some girls may show some of these traits. I can usually (but not always) tell if my single combed chicks are male or female by 5 weeks but I had one pea-combed cockerel that I thought was a pullet until he was 16 weeks old. Sometimes you just can't tell.

If you want, in another 2 to 3 weeks post a close-up of the head showing the comb and where the wattles would be. Post another photo of the same chick showing legs and posture. We might be able to help you.