Black Copper Maran Sexing Help

[The Happster]

Your birds are all beautiful.
My rooster was feeling left out....
Handsome boy isn't he? If I do say so myself....

 

[house1917]

That eye color-hackle color combo is wonderful!

 

[chickity-chick]

In the first picture I zoomed in and the tail shape and closeness of the comb say pullet to me.

But in other pictures the wattles are a bit big for a pullet, and the overall redness of the comb and wattles isn't a great sign.

Especially with Marans, leg size can be deceiving because of the feathering, and I've had pullets with some serious drumsticks. And, at eight weeks my Marans cockerels had much more pronounced combs- in my experience they really telegraph 'roo' starting at about six weeks.

Definitely a 'hold' on this youngster, you have the frustrating slow-growing-cockerel, or fast-maturing-pullet scenario!

Could you help me with identifying mine too? My two BCM's are 6 weeks and some change and I really need to know what someone who knows the breed thinks. I'll attach bellow whats happening with my flock and pictures. I would really really really appreciate your opinions! Thank you!
Hi everyone could you help me determine my chicks sex? They are also 6 weeks old and I am stumped too! Its so hard for me!

I have 2 BCM chicks both 6 weeks and some change but there are some pretty big differences between the two and I am so confused as to which one is a pullet and which could be a little roo. I’m hoping for two pullets! Im a first time chicken owner so sexing is really difficult for me! I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. Sniffles is a lot bigger and heavier that Poppy, also I believe sniffles has bigger feet than poppy as well. However comb is a light pink and yellow at the top and so are wattles. But they are reddish too just not as red as Poppys? Sniffles has slight copper at the neck but very very slight and on only 2 feathers. Sniffles had late tail feather development when younger and has always had a "rounder" tail as you can probably tell bellow. When Sniffles was little the tail had lots of "fluffs" but not feathers then when feathers did come in there weren't a lot and it held on to a lot fo the "fluffs if you know what I mean. Sniffles has always had fluffier feathers that fluff up a lot. Sniffles will often times fluff his/her feathers and make them stand up a bit. Poppy is smaller than Sniffles. Poppy has a redder comb and redder waddles, but they are pretty red in my opinion. Poppy has gold feathers at the neck and has started getting some gold in the wings. Poppy is a sweet chicken so temperament I haven’t really seen much aggression. Poppy and sniffles have flown into each other and bumped chests before but it’s not frequent and I don’t really know if this is a sign or not because my two for sure red sex link pullets have done these too. Sniffles is the more aggressive one in comparison to Poppy but neither of them are actually aggressive. (The other two chickens seen in the background are Lucille and Dixie and they are red sex link pullets. Thank you again everyone who can help me!

Sniffles (Subject #1):
View attachment 2186688View attachment 2186707View attachment 2186704View attachment 2186709

Poppy (Subject #2):


View attachment 2186748You can see the gold in neck here a bit.
View attachment 2186772View attachment 2186776You can kinda see the faint gold bellow the white spot on the right. It is like gold speckles coming in on the wing feathers. This just began coming in this week



The two together:
View attachment 2186728Sniffles on the right and Poppy on the left. You can see how much bigger Sniffles is.

View attachment 2186736Sniffles top right. Poppy top left.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

This is my black copper Maran, 8 weeks old just for comparison. Your baby’s wattles don’t lie.

 

[chickity-chick]

This is my black copper Maran, 8 weeks old just for comparison. Your baby’s wattles don’t lie.View attachment 2187964

So even though mines combs aren't that big just because they have red wattles indicated its a boy? So is it more of a color and less of a size thing?

 

[house1917]

Hi Chickity- Poppy really does look like a little cockerel- comb size and the slow-feathering face are my red flags. Sniffles would be a 'hold' in my flock- simply because of the wattles starting at six weeks- but the comb size doesn't worry me.

Marans boys typically (I'd say almost always) put on comb quickly- I've attached photos of this year's boys at exactly four weeks old. There are pullets in some photos to show context- and a Heritage RIR pullet for good measure!

Earlier in this thread you'll see that size doesn't necessarily matter as well- I have two pullets from the same clutch/breeder that are significantly bigger than the rest. My favorite, Bijou, has zero fear of the cockerel and is sweet/calm and doesn't bully her smaller sisters. Happy to have some hardy girls in my flock!

 

[chickity-chick]

Hi Chickity- Poppy really does look like a little cockerel- comb size and the slow-feathering face are my red flags. Sniffles would be a 'hold' in my flock- simply because of the wattles starting at six weeks- but the comb size doesn't worry me.

Marans boys typically (I'd say almost always) put on comb quickly- I've attached photos of this year's boys at exactly four weeks old. There are pullets in some photos to show context- and a Heritage RIR pullet for good measure!

Earlier in this thread you'll see that size doesn't necessarily matter as well- I have two pullets from the same clutch/breeder that are significantly bigger than the rest. My favorite, Bijou, has zero fear of the cockerel and is sweet/calm and doesn't bully her smaller sisters. Happy to have some hardy girls in my flock!

ohhhhh thank you so much for explaining this to me! Now I see how similar I guess our boys look with the comb size! Thank you!

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

So even though mines combs aren't that big just because they have red wattles indicated its a boy? So is it more of a color and less of a size thing?

I think it is more so that everyone grows at their own pace... kinda like pre teen humans. I have 4 leghorn pullets same age & their combs are all different sizes. A lot of Young females won’t get the reddish Color when they’re developing, their combs are usually yellow or very light pink. It’s easier to compare when you have at least 2 of the same breed chicks growing up together.

 

[Jessi.Smith]

Here are some updated pictures. I know I have at least 1 roo in the bunch, maybe 2 (I have heard 2 different sounding crows, but they stop when I walk up). The second crower is either the big

white one or the BCM.

 

[house1917]

The BCM looks like a pullet!! I can see quite a bit of comb from behind on the white one though... fingers crossed that's the case!