Backyard bread mixes 4 weeks old

[AmsoilJim]

these are 4 weeks old now and I was just looking for others opinions.
Roo was a cuckoo maran and hens I have are listed in my signature

My guess is cockerel on this one


My guess: Pullet on this one


My guess: pullet on this one



My guess: cockerel on this one


What do you think? Am I spot on?

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Looks spot on to me! For now anyway lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree with the two cockerels. The third looks like a pullet to me though I'm not 100% sure. Legs look skinny and overall feel is pullet but it is showing some comb. The second, with that comb and the heavy legs looks male to me. But four weeks is still just a bit early.


Nor sure who the mother is on the third one. That's a strange color from a Cuckoo Maran rooster. Are you sure the rooster is a pure Cuckoo Marans and not some sort of mix? Or maybe a hen is a mix?

With those hens, the white one has to be out of a leghorn.

The first two black ones could be out of several different hens. But i suspect a Cuckoo Marans mother on the second one. Usually with just one barring gene the white spot on the head is fairly small, but if you have two barring genes, which you would have with a Cuckoo mother and father, the white spot is usually quite a bit larger and signifies male. I'm probably overthinking this. They are four weeks old and the white spot thing is more for newly hatched chicks. I wish you luck!

 

[AmsoilJim]

Nor sure who the mother is on the third one. That's a strange color from a Cuckoo Maran rooster. Are you sure the rooster is a pure Cuckoo Marans and not some sort of mix? Or maybe a hen is a mix?

All my chickens are from Murray McMurray except for the Rhode Island Reds. And the Red Star are a cross which gives them the ability to sex the chicks when hatched

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's true, the Red Stars are a mix, you can get strange things when you breed mixes. So maybe a Red Star is the mother of that third one.

Reading McMurray's write-up on their red stars, they are based on a commercial egg laying hybrid, but the adult size appears a bit large. Still if the third one is from a red star and is a pullet (I think it is, especially from that new photo) she should make an excellent laying bird. Yo may really like her adult colors/pattern.

 

[AmsoilJim]

Here they are at 6 weeks old now, same order as first post

 

[Ridgerunner]

First and last are males. The third is a pullet. Pretty sure the second is a pullet also.