Brahma Chicks - Boys or Girls Please? Update

[thailand]

Hi,

Here I go again with my second round of bought-in chicks and hoping this time to have picked more girls than boys.

These babies are about 2 weeks old. All opinions appreciated. All boys will be sold or eaten as we already have two roosters (and only one hen). So trying NOT to love them, but is it even possible? Just way too cute.

Apologies these photos are not too clear (my camera has been playing up lately). If needed I'll get my husband to take better shots tomorrow.

Chick A

Chick B

Chick C


I wish I was a patient person, but sadly I AM NOT! Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on these cuties.

Thanks

 

[AngelaB]

My Brahma rooster's comb was really evident when he was little...I was afraid he was a roo too. Then when we started getting the saddle feathers when he was older, I wanted to cry. Then he crowed....

I had to find him a new home.

 

[Illia]

Look out for chick B, but otherwise. . . . . WAY too young. Wait til they feather out more, and they're likely more easily sexable by feather color than comb size/color.

 

[thailand]

Thanks Illia and Angela. I think I would SCREAM

if they all ended up being boys!

Illia, when you say "look out for chick B" do you mean that out of the 3 this one looks most likely to be a boy?

I've done some research about sexing chicks and found something about the length of tail feathers for Brahma chicks. Apparently stubby tails can often mean a boy, and more developed tails can often mean a girl. That was about the best information I had to go on. Oh the pressure trying to pick girls!

Thanks for your input.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Agree. I wouldn't be surprised if chick B is a boy.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

I had a pair of Brahmas and it was true with them that the female started getting tail feathers before male.
That's the only thing I know to go on at this age.
Otherwise, you'll have to wait until they are older.

 

[RhodeRunner]

Brahmas tend to be very difficult to sex by their comb, for the first few months. What tends to tip of their gender would be coloration, or feathering. Males feather much slower then females.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
I found this to be the case with mine also.
Did your chicks come sexed or straight run?
Do you see a lot of differences in the feathering? It's kind of hard to tell if there is a difference if they are all the same sex but pretty easy if they aren't. (does that make sense?)

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
Agree. I wouldn't be surprised if chick B is a boy.

Are you guys sure you mean chick B? Did you notice that she has them labeled after the pictures?
Chick B seems the most feathered to me.

 

[RhodeRunner]

Quote:
I found this to be the case with mine also.
Did your chicks come sexed or straight run?
Do you see a lot of differences in the feathering? It's kind of hard to tell if there is a difference if they are all the same sex but pretty easy if they aren't. (does that make sense?)

All my batches of Brahmas were straight run, and the difference in speed of feathering is rather vast. The males look rumpless with just some wing feathers for quite some time. When it comes to the columbian coloring that can be tricky. Even more so when it comes to poor quality birds from hatcheries.