Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[Morgan7782]

Hello! I wanted to share a post regarding telltale signs you have an Easter Egger cockerel.

This was only my experience, and I hope it helps somebody identify whether they have girls or boys. Basically this is not a for sure guide, just hopefully a helpful post.

I was able to tell my cockerel at around 4-6 weeks old, and here are a few pictures to help.

(Sulo's tail feathers are narrow and upright.)

This is Munk an Easter Egger pullet to compare. Same age, but the feathering in is very different. Sulo's "big boy" feathers came in later then Munk's "big girl" feathers.

Sulo and Munk. (same breed/age just to see the difference)

Hope this helps someone! Easter Eggers are hard to sex, and this may not be every case, but it certainly was here and I hope these differences help people tell who is who

 

[BirdNut]

She is aware that Sulo is indeed a rooster, and was posting the tell-tale signs of one for the convenience of the newbies.

Thank you for posting this, it's definitely going to help someone. Another sign I want to point out is the stature and build of the Cockerel. Notice how Munk is shorter, and stockier, while the Cockerel has a more gangly build; his legs look too big for his body and he is very long with a broad chest, rather than being round and filled-out like Munk.

 

[Morgan7782]

I know

I had meant this post to help other people tell whether they had girls or boys. I just wanted to show how they were feathering in differently and some tips for telling boy/girl in this breed. Sulo is a really common EE rooster color, and Munk is a somewhat common hen color for the breed

just trying to help others heh

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Here's my EE roo and an example of what Illia was saying

 

[Illia]

Actually, a VERY easy way to show people sexing EE's by demonstrating with your pictured birds there is by color. EE's are very easily sexed by color, as most are actually sex-linked too.


Females in most cases come out a partridge looking brown and black, often known as wild-type duckwing. Some though are silver too, which is strictly black and white, sometimes with a salmon breast.

Males on the other hand are quite often black and white, but have colored red, orange, or yellow feathers that emerge on sometimes the neck, back, and most importantly and almost always the shoulders. These are tell-tail signs of a male, as females cannot have that color in those regions. Other male colors that are red flags are one coming out with a black breast and red markings on the shoulders, neck, and back.

True saddle and hackle feathers actually come in much later, so judging by them is a hard thing to do, especially when someone is new with chickens.

 

[Morgan7782]

I was not able to tell hackle/saddle feathers because I was new at the time, but I was lucky for such a good comparison. Sulo also would stand in front of the 3 pullets I had, between me and the girls, even when he was 2 weeks old. But his comb didn't get pink until 4-5 weeks. By 5 weeks he was on his way to a new home with 11 Easter Egger pullets lol.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Did you not read the post?

Kalie.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
I guess I should clarify - if the bird has a lot of white, but with orange in the shoulders especially - male. If it has a black chest but orange or red in the neck, shoulders, etc - it is male.

If it has an orange breast and orange everywhere else too like Munk - Female. Especially if it is solid brown/orange with black stripes, female. Unless the breast starts to develop black.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Thought I'd share pics of a few of mine, in case it helps anybody!

(the dates are all correct on these pics, and they were hatched 1/28/11)

Roosters...

One of the rules about sexing EEs is that most times black and white=rooster. MOST (but not all) black and white EEs are roosters, but it's the color pattern that counts. Here's a black and white rooster...

And a black and white pullet... (see the difference?

) Her name's "Chuckles."

And more pullets...
"Hershey"

"Snowball"

(looks too similar to some of her sisters to name)

"Nova Scotia"

"Pearl"

(no name yet)

EDITED TO ADD NAMES.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

So is that a true way to identify a cockerel of any breed or only EE?

No, it is only for ones that have pea combs, which were created from Ameraucana (sometimes Araucana) stock. Hatcheries have been producing these EEs for decades... long before the Ameraucana was accepted into the Standard of Perfection as a breed. EEs are almost a breed in themselves, but you can think of them as non standard Ameraucanas. The name Easter Egger originated with some hatchery to market this "breed" but today the term is also being used to describe any cross that ends up having a gene for blue shells. To me this can get a bit confusing. I think of EEs as hatchery birds with pea combs. They aren't really crosses, the hatcheries have bred them fairly consistently over the years. I got my first ones 30 years ago.
By contrast, Legbar crosses will likely not have pea combs, but the blue shell gene that they carry did originally come from pea-combed Ameraucana or Araucana birds.

And that's more than you probably wanted to know!