Ameraucanas: 9 weeks old, Hens or Roos?

[Crunchie]

My turn, My turn!!

Following are pics of my 7 Ameraucanas, about 9-ish weeks old now. 4 blues, 2 splashes, and 1 oops-maybe-I'm-an-EE?? off-colored chick (kinda looks blue wheaten, but I'm thinking it'll end up not a standard color). I have some guesses as to who is a she and who is a he, but I'm no good at this!! I need help! Let me know what you think. Some of them were a little camera shy, but I think all of the pics will at least give you a good look at neck and saddle feathers. They don't have names, I'll just assign each chick a number:


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

And #7

I'm really hoping that #7 is a hen, so it can just go into my laying flock...it's obviously not going to fit into the blue/black breeding pens I'm trying to get going!!

Thanks!

 

[LynnGrigg]

They all look like hens to me but at their age I'm not a great judge.

 

[SloCrevs]

They look like hens to me too.

 

[Heidi]

They are very beautiful. Did you buy them as chicks or eggs and from where? I really like the blues. Sorry I can't help with figuring out who's a hen and who's a roo.

 

[speckledhen]

They seem to be girls, but sometimes one can fool you. #1's comb seems a tad thick for a girl. For comparison, here are my two blue pullets and my black cockerel at 10 weeks old and last, one of Scout's brothers at the same age-quite a comb difference between boys and girls by then usually:

 

[Crunchie]

Thanks for the replies!

Cynthia, your birds are gorgeous. I love those blue hens, so pretty!

Heidi, I hatched these guys from eggs I got off of Eggbid. These were my first attempt at incubation, so I didn't want to spend a fortune on eggs because it was an experiment for me, you know?? But they seem like pretty nice birds, and the lady I bought them from was great to deal with. Sent extras, and my hatch rate was pretty good, I think--none of the eggs were broken (she packaged very well), but I did have a few loose air cells so I imagine the PO wasn't too kind to them--and I still hatched 7. I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but she sold a lot of Blue/Splash Ameraucana eggs on Eggbid 'till recently. I would recommend her, I had a good experience.

But Cynthia, you sell eggs too, right?? I think I remember seeing other threads.

I think I'm going to try to get a pen or two of Blues/Blacks going eventually. I'm not as familiar with the Ameraucanas, I started with Cuckoo Marans. I got the eggs to try my 'bator out and because I had lost a couple of my laying hens, my favorite of which was an EE--so, I figured I'd get some true Ameraucanas and see how it went. Figured if I ended up deciding not to breed them, I'd still add some nice hens to my little group that we keep around for eating eggs (and entertainment). Even if I don't end up with breeder/show quality birds, it will be nice to have these guys around--those blue-green eggs are going to look so cool next to my chocolatey Marans eggs! Fun stuff.

My suspect roos were #1 and #3, but only because their combs are the thickest and they are the only two whose combs have any real color to them. The color especially is hard to see in the pics, though. I didn't know if that could be an indicator of gender or not, though--thanks for the pics for comparison, Cynthia!! But all of them look pretty much the same otherwise, as far as feathering goes, so that was the only difference I could find. Though like I said, I'm really no good at this! It will be nice if they all turn out to be hens, but man, what are the odds of that??!!

And I'm gonna have to find a nice roo for some of these ladies....uh oh, another chicken acquisition!!

So, maybe I'll have hatching eggs available in the spring.

What do you guys think--any of these guys look nice enough to put a breeding group together?? I'll definitely have Marans eggs available, though in small quantities, as I'll be hatching myself to expand my Cuckoo flock. And maybe a few really nice white-crested black Polish, if my pair cooperates. Those are some goofy birds!!

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, I sell eggs from my Ameraucana trio; at least I will until and unless I sell Scout. I go back and forth on that, but I may sell Scout and the lighter blue pullet in the spring as a breeding pair and get out of breeding them, although I do love them alot. Wonderful birds. Yours are lovely. I don't see much difference in the hackle areas of Ameraucanas between the sexes till much later; the saddle area seems to be an easier indicator, along with the width of the comb with three pronounced pea-ridges in the boys and the middle ridge standing almost alone in the girls.