Amberlink labeled as pullet - 2 week

[ella2025]

Hi! I got this amberlink chickie last Monday at Tractor supply. She looked to be already 5-7 days old. She is a little more than 2 weeks old currently, but her wattles are worrying me. Aren't amberlinks sex linked so the hatchery can easily tell the gender from the wings? Her wattles are a little pink and her comb is a little bigger than my other chooks. I'll wait and see, but does this super early wattle development mean roo already even though she's so young?

 

[JedJackson]

Amberlinks are wing sexed, as you say. Whether the hatchery got it wrong is another question. I don't think there is enough to go on to say this chick will be a cockerel, but it bears watching.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

There's also the possibility that the breed itself got mixed up, which isn't out of the ordinary. On this chick, I'd actually still lean toward pullet but watch to see if anything changes like the above poster said.

Reasons why I lean pullet: I've had pullet's wattles turn pink early and nothing became of it beside it still being a pullet. On the comb, it's nice and straight, going up at a straight line. That's usually pullet.

Again, I'd still watch her. Even though her comb's shape says pullet, it is kinda big for this age on pullet. She might just have a big comb because I have seen that too. Update us when she's six weeks old as that's when it's best to tell.

 

[Livia Ammon]

In my experience, production breeds with single combs tend to develop them early. My leghorns always have larger combs than the cockerels at this age but end up being female. Tons of things are breed dependent at this age, so it’s certainly worth it to wait.

 

[ella2025]

In my experience, production breeds with single combs tend to develop them early. My leghorns always have larger combs than the cockerels at this age but end up being female. Tons of things are breed dependent at this age, so it’s certainly worth it to wait.

Same! This batch of chicks i just got last week was solely production breeds, and they all seem to have slightly bigger combs at this age than my last batch with like no production breeds. They do act and look like hens to me though.

 

[ella2025]

There's also the possibility that the breed itself got mixed up, which isn't out of the ordinary. On this chick, I'd actually still lean toward pullet but watch to see if anything changes like the above poster said.

Reasons why I lean pullet: I've had pullet's wattles turn pink early and nothing became of it beside it still being a pullet. On the comb, it's nice and straight, going up at a straight line. That's usually pullet.

Again, I'd still watch her. Even though her comb's shape says pullet, it is kinda big for this age on pullet. She might just have a big comb because I have seen that too. Update us when she's six weeks old as that's when it's best to tell.

The breed getting mixed up would be horrible. I'll watch this chick and update! Thanks

 

[ella2025]

Amberlinks are wing sexed, as you say. Whether the hatchery got it wrong is another question. I don't think there is enough to go on to say this chick will be a cockerel, but it bears watching.

If they didn't mix up the breeds but still got the sexing wrong, that would be hilarious! Thanks for your imput everybody! I will make sure to update