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

[AkChris]

Im thinking the curled tail black one is a boy, compare his hackles to the others.
Whats the Daddy look like? Sometimes a look at his type can give some clues to possible sex linked traits.

Very good looking set of EE's!

Thanks, Don't know what the dad looks like. Got these from a local woman who hatches out some chicks each spring and sells the extras. All I know is that her hens are SLW and the Roo is an EE. She does have one pic of her hens on her website, they seem to have pretty upright tail with some curl which makes me hope the black one takes after these hens.

I guess time will tell. I don't really mind if he's a rooster. I got 6 chicks but only want to keep maybe 3 hens and have a friend who has 40 hens and just lost her only rooster so she wants to take any roosters I end up with.

 

[missnu01]

Need help. My 14 1/2 week old chick. Is she a pullet or a roo. First time chicken owner and don't know. I have 3 other pullets I am sure of ad Squeaky is not the dominant one of the bunch. In fact she is the pushover one of them all. I know pullets can have combs and wattles and her comb is one row and just growing now. She has never crowed and has always been the loudest baby chick so we named her Squeaky. Pretty sure she is a easter egger mix. Any help please....

girl

 

[nina1marc2]

Thank you.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I'm hoping someone can help. We have a 4 and a half week-old EE chick who has sort of... never been like the others. Her (or his?) feathers are weird and kind of stick out; she's always been small and round; her wings are kind of awkward and short. She's not the greatest genetic specimen. Whatev. I love her anyway, because her personality is delightful. That said, her feathers are finally catching up to everyone else's, and the coloring is different. Plus, there's a comb coming in. And she has kind of stocky legs compared to the others... Is this a cockerel?

There are two recessive mutations that can cause feathers that don't "hook" together, which may be what you are seeing here. Silkied feathers are hookless and found in the Silkie and a few other breeds. It takes 2 copies of the gene to be expressed. There is also a lesser known/discussed mutation called Fray (fr) that primarily affects the flight and tail feathers of the bird (rather than affecting all feathers as with the silkie gene). The fray condition is associated with poor viability, which is probably why it is less common. The feathers coming in on your chick's breast look normal, but the split webbing on the flight and tail feathers is pretty clear. That, along with you saying this little one is small and awkward, makes me wonder if it somehow survived with 2 fray genes. If that's truly the case, then you can consider this chick a survivor!

Oh, for the record, I think it's a cockerel with that nubbly comb. Please update us in a week or two. I would love to see how the feathers continue to develop. (And if it's a boy.

)


If you're interested, we had a messy feathered Serama cockerel with split webbing.






He grew to be a regular looking smooth feathered adult, but has poor feather quality (sickle feathers are weak and break easily). This year we hatched 9 of his chicks. 2 of them are silkied, so we know that he is carrying a gene for that, but not sure if it had anything to do with his crazy feathers as a chick.






Edited to add: I was worried about feather mites too, but it wasn't the case for my guy.

 

[troll1010]

here is Eagle he is 15 wks today and found his cock-a-doodle-doo lol sooo cute.

 

[Jewellan]

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

WOW! So pretty. He looks like an Eagle!

 

[LoveOfChickens1]

I have 3 Easter eggers who have me bewildered. LOL They are about 12-13 weeks old in these pics. They're about 17 weeks old now. No crowing BUT one of them, just today, started "submissive squatting" and hanging around the nesting boxes a lot.

Betsy is the dark one, on the left and Lucille Ball is the redheaded one, on the right. Betsy is the only one that has a beard. They're both a bit skittish but such pretty chickens. Betsy (left) has an attitude. She loves to chest bump and fan out her neck when ticked. Lucille Ball (right) is not as bold but still is skittish. Pay no attention to my photobombing Black Star, Copper. LOL



Another shot of Betsy (left). You can see her puffed out neck pretty well here. (12-13 weeks)



Sorry for the blurry pic. This one is Wheatly. She has more of a gray/blueish underside and a light red head. She isn't skittish at all. She's the one I'm 99.9% certain is a girl because, just today, she started "submissive squatting" and checking out the nesting boxes. She's about 17-18 weeks old now but was only 12-13 weeks in this picture.



Another shot of Lucille Ball (she's a little younger here, 12-13 weeks).



A great shot of Betsy (12-13 weeks)



This pic is more recent. Wheatly is on the left and Betsy is in the background. They're roughly 17 weeks here.



Thank you and I love this thread and this group!

Tracy

UPDATE: Confirmed, Wheatly laid her 1st egg 2 days ago and Betsy laid her 1st egg today. Still waiting on Lucille Ball. I'm posting updates because I like updates to see how accurate my guessing is. LOL

 

[Chicky Crazy]

Ive already posted these but didn't get but a few replies. These are my Americanas and Austrolorp at the age of five weeks.
1

2

3

4

 

[KrystalRose]

Here are my 5 EEs, they are 5 weeks old and I am still trying to guess if they are pullets or cockerels. I am pretty sure #2 the black and white one is a cockerel just by the patchy coloring and I am not sure about #5 because she has always been very independent and has a red chest but please give me your opinion's as I am just guessing. And yes they are eating cold watermelon because it is 100 degrees outside.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

 

[mandtroof]

Here are my 5 EEs, they are 5 weeks old and I am still trying to guess if they are pullets or cockerels. I am pretty sure #2 the black and white one is a cockerel just by the patchy coloring and I am not sure about #5 because she has always been very independent and has a red chest but please give me your opinion's as I am just guessing. And yes they are eating cold watermelon because it is 100 degrees outside. #1 I'm guessing 1. F 2. M 3. F 4. M 5. M #2 #3 #4 #5