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

[kenzier093]

My first group of EE's are 5 weeks and a few days old now, I'm thinking one of them may be a little roo.

This is Lilly (or maybe Willy) Nilly my daughters chick. The day they turned 5wks she started getting a pea comb and gaining lots of color. This chick is very good and herding up her sisters when they freak out and get lost on our trek from the brooder to the grow out pen every morning. She goes to each of them and brings them into the pen. Its real cute.


This is Lilly (Willy) Nilly with Claudia, I think she has a pea comb


This is Julia, I think she has a standard type comb, but not quite sure. It looks a bit different from standard and yet still different from pea comb.




This is Gertrude, she has a standard type comb

Lilly (Willy) is a cockerel. Notice how the comb is bigger and more red.

 

[polarbearpilot]

My first group of EE's are 5 weeks and a few days old now, I'm thinking one of them may be a little roo.

This is Lilly (or maybe Willy) Nilly my daughters chick. The day they turned 5wks she started getting a pea comb and gaining lots of color. This chick is very good and herding up her sisters when they freak out and get lost on our trek from the brooder to the grow out pen every morning. She goes to each of them and brings them into the pen. Its real cute.


This is Lilly (Willy) Nilly with Claudia, I think she has a pea comb


This is Julia, I think she has a standard type comb, but not quite sure. It looks a bit different from standard and yet still different from pea comb.




This is Gertrude, she has a standard type comb

Can you post full body and comb pictures of Lilly/Willy? I can not be sure that it's a boy, but herding the girls to safety is a boy thing. The rest of the chicks are girls.

 

[polarbearpilot]

Can someone please help me figure out the breed/gender of my chicks, (I'm pretty sure they are ee's. I bought them at TC and they were marked as ameracaunas but I hear that that's usually not the case)? I have a bad feeling I have more cockerels than pullets

Chick #1 - maybe girl. Need side shot to see if there are patches and a closer shot of the comb.
Chick #2 & 3 - top chick is most likely roo. Need close shot of the comb and body. Bottom chick is 100% girl.
Chick # 4 5 &6 - Top chick is roo. Left chick is pullet. Bottom chick unsure, need better picture of full body and comb. Right chick is same as #2 above? if so, it might be roo.
Chick # 7 & 8 - top chick is roo. Bottom chick is girl, although comb is pretty wide, need full body shot to be sure.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

Just a red comb by itself doesn't mean boy. It needs to be examined in conjunction with other attributes.

 

[debid]

Just a red comb by itself doesn't mean boy. It needs to be examined in conjunction with other attributes.

A dark pink comb on a very young chick is a strong indicator. I'd call it 100% if the comb is also growing and the chick is less than 8 weeks. This doesn't mean pullets cannot have pink combs, it just happens a bit later and without the pronounced growth seen with a young male. And, of course, there are a few late blooming males that masquerade as pullets for a few weeks. Those are the tricky ones. It's a rare female that's mistaken for a male.

So, while I agree that you have to look at the whole picture, not just the comb, a big, red comb on a seven weeker is absolutely a male.

 

[debid]

WELL, I'M A SAD MOM TONIGHT...........NO THEY ARE FINE...........(7 WEEKS OLD)HOWEVER, TONIGHT IS THE FIRST TIME THEY HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE BY THEMSELVES !  I FEE HORRIBLE....I'M SO SCARED BECAUSE, THOUGH I'VE DONE EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE SAFE.......THEY ARE NOT IN A SECURE COOP!!   I COULDN'T KEEP THEM IN THE HOUSE ANY LONGER. THEY HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE NOW FOR ABOUT 2 WEEKS DURING THE DAY...THEY LOVED IT AND I'VE SECURED THE SMALL PEN THE BEST I CAN...I MAY NOT SLEEP TONIGHT!  THEY HAVE BEEN COVERED AND STAKED DOWN ALL OVER THE PLACE.!!   

I hope the predators stay away long enough to finish the coop. I get it -- it's hard to go work on a coop when you have cute fuzzies to watch but next time, have the habitat ready before getting the chicks. It's much less stressful.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

A dark pink comb on a very young chick is a strong indicator. I'd call it 100% if the comb is also growing and the chick is less than 8 weeks. This doesn't mean pullets cannot have pink combs, it just happens a bit later and without the pronounced growth seen with a young male. And, of course, there are a few late blooming males that masquerade as pullets for a few weeks. Those are the tricky ones. It's a rare female that's mistaken for a male.

So, while I agree that you have to look at the whole picture, not just the comb, a big, red comb on a seven weeker is absolutely a male.

On lily/willy it isn't bright red though. It's kinda pinkish. I wouldn't call it a definite male. And while id agree there are 99.9% signs I'm too much of a skeptic to agree anything is 100% until you see sex characteristics, like saddle and hackle feathers, or egg laying. Like I said
, 99.9999999999% sure. But not 100%

I think there's a decent chance lily willy is a boy, but also an ok chance at a girl lol.

 

[debid]

Oh, you're talking about that one in particular? That's not a red comb. I've seen plenty of pullets blushed a shade like that. Red is red and I've never seen a pullet blush to red before she's even feathered. Ever. If it's pink + growing, though (and from the description, I gathered it was), it's a male. But yes, I'd be interested in seeing a side shot of the uneven patterning on the wings to confirm because a snapshot in time doesn't often tell a full story.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

Yeah. I'd like to see a side shot too. There are exceptions to every rule, but not to multiple rules lol.

 

[linzkel]

Thank you for your help! I will work on trying to get better shots today. The brown pullet that is 100% girl is my sons favorite, so I'm thrilled about that! I'm very curious to the bottom chick in the group of 4, he/she is very timid so I'll try to get a good pic of him!