Buff Orpington - pullet or roo?

[kbrunnergirl]

Hello - new to chickens and to this website, dying to know if this little BO is a pullet, as she is supposed to be? I have a mixed flock, all should be pullets, and this little one is feathering much slower than the others (have an EE, D'uccle, polish, cuckoo maran), although I don't have another BO to compare to. This pic is at 3 1/2 weeks old. No sign of red on the comb, and no wattles to speak of. Thanks for your help!

 

[lilliesanchicks]

One thing I noticed is the leg color is wrong for buff Orps.
Another clue on sex is its slow feathering and huge legs. I am leaning towards little roo

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

I have a 5 week-old Buff Orpington in my little flock of 8 right now. I had ordered all pullets, too, but my Buff Orpington is clearly a roo. I could tell with mine easily by 3 weeks. His comb was the most developed of all my chicks at that point, even more so then my Brown Leghorn, and Leghorns are known for BIG combs! Also, there was some very clear show of wattles coming in, more than my other chicks. It is still hard to see on your picture, but I'm pretty sure my boy had a bigger comb at 3 weeks than yours, so I'll guess you have a pullet.

I don't have a picture of my boy at 3 weeks, but here he is at 4 weeks. Clearly, he is NOT a pullet as I ordered! LOL



My Buff Orpington was slow to feather, too, but now at 5 weeks has caught up with the others I have. He feathered out a LOT at 4 weeks. I honestly think it's the breed. They are a bit larger than some other breeds and simply feather out a bit slower. In THIS case, I don't think it's much of an indicator of sex unless comparing to other Buff Orpingtons. Also, the leg color is the same as mine was when he was younger. Now at 5 weeks, they have paled quite a bit, much paler than any of the others in my flock.

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

To clarify, my boy is about 29-30 days old in the picture above. 4 FULL weeks old.

 

[kbrunnergirl]

Oh I do hope shes a she! Here is another (blurry - sorry! I have a sullen boyfriend at home taking pics for me while I'm at the office!) pic of her comb. She is now 4 1/2 weeks old.'

And another of the profile

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

As you can CLEARLY see, your chick has a MUCH smaller comb than my chick had at the same age. I really think you have a pullet.

Here he is at 4 weeks (29-30 days) with my Barred Rock pullet. You can CLEARLY see the difference. His look just screams 'BOY'.

 

[kbrunnergirl]

Thanks so much GreenEggsNSpam, and the difference between our two BOs is indeed clear. I think you are right about the breed being super slow to feather regardless of sex, as this chick was the last to get any real feathers and is still in process, while the others are nearly completely feathered. Even the polish had quite a mokawk at 3 weeks and the little BO still only had fluff!

 

[kbrunnergirl]

Picture update (although not a good one, was trying to get a pic of the polish's growing hair do to send to my nieces and got the BO's face and noticed it captured her comb). Coming up on 8 weeks old. There are definitely no wattles growing underneath, just pink little patches. What do you guys think?

 

[buckaroogirl]

I think pullet.

 

[kbrunnergirl]

Buckaroogirl, I hope you're right! I have gotten so attached to this (hopefully) girl and would hate to have to rehome her! Anyone else have thoughts?