Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[TK Poultry]

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you need to wait a week or two before you can really tell. just to be sure. and I caution you not every chick hatched from show lineage will be SQ. you can't buy SQ eggs or chicks only adults because you never know. not saying that they wont. I myself am getting birds from John (

hopefully)

 

[Illia]

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I'd wait another week. The thing is, don't judge by the shoulder feathers unless the WING feathers match them!

Boys will have dark, almost entirely black (or blue) wing feathers, the shoulder feathers just help to confirm, especially if you have a male with too little black on the wings, which confuses people into thinking it is a girl - The shoulder feathers help aid the sexing.

 

[TK Poultry]

this may be just me but I would use the wing and breast feathers as indicators not the shoulder. I wouldn't go by what I say completely. I have Brown Reds and use to have BBS so what do I know

 

[Illia]

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x2 - Go by the breast before the shoulders, although they usually come in third, and take longer to wait for.

 

[TK Poultry]

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x2 - Go by the breast before the shoulders, although they usually come in third, and take longer to wait for.

I'd be willing to wait! I wouldn't want to cull based on gender. You want to see how they mature anyway.

 

[LarissaCluck]

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You got your lav eggs from Amy too right? I have some 6 or 7 week old chicks I hatched from her eggs. I never noticed the feather line you speak off, but by 5 or 6 weeks I was pretty sure of the gender based on the comb. (At least I think I know!)

 

[TK Poultry]

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are they like pin feathers or different color feathers? neither really mean anything but I'm just curious. Males are slower feathering in my experience. I really don't think it says anything about gender. Yours are lavs so comb will be your deciding factor.

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
I'd wait another week. The thing is, don't judge by the shoulder feathers unless the WING feathers match them!

Boys will have dark, almost entirely black (or blue) wing feathers, the shoulder feathers just help to confirm, especially if you have a male with too little black on the wings, which confuses people into thinking it is a girl - The shoulder feathers help aid the sexing.

Well, that's not exactly true. Boys wing feathers tend to be darker, but not black or blue until much later.

Here is a pic I just took of my W/BW cockerel...he is 3 weeks and from Chicken Stalker. You can see the darker shoulder feathers near my thumb, but notice his wings are neither blue nor black at this stage.

This W/BW chick is feathering in like a female. The flash was too bright so I turned it off. Notice how light her shoulder feathers are? But her wing feathers are still very similar to the male's at this stage.

 

[Illia]

That's why I said chest and shoulder feathers aid in sexing the more difficult ones.

 

[tellynpeep]

Thanks for all the help with sexing my Wheaties! I think I am less sure than ever... maybe they are all boys?!! I will get some pics, but currently don't have internet access at home so it may be a day or so before I can post them.