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

[Faraday40]

I’d like help sexing 5 Easter Eggers chicks that are exactly 4 weeks old today. I’d like to know:
- Sex: Cockrel/Pullet and why you think so (to help me learn)
- Comb Type: I believe they are all pea combs, but I feel too inexperienced with them to say for sure.
EE #1 and #2. They are the two largest ones and the most colorful, with #1 being a little brighter colored where #2 is lighter colored and a little more dull.
EE #1 (next 3 pictures):




EE #2 (next 3 pictures):








I'll post the other 3 EEs once I get pictures of them.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

sorry, but I'm still lost. By the time my daughter and I realized that the all-female chicks we ordered contained at least one rooster (we heard crowing), we didn't have any earlier pics to go by. They are a few weeks away from laying age and still haven't a clue about any but one (tell tale crowing, long curved tale, much more brilliant shine). Our others have a mix of characteristics. Since it's hard to get the similar looking ones to stand still and smile during photo shoots, all I have is a mixed bag of photos and a very short vid on my google+ acct. Can anyone here help? The company we ordered from has a 90% accuracy guarantee, but we need to know how many replacements we should be getting. Living near town, we aren't allowed to have roosters. We don't have a lot of $ (who does?), so I can't risk buying more potential roosters. As is, I have no idea what to do with the one, or more that I have. Does anyone here want to buy them, cheep cheep?

INames:
the most rooster-y one was, perhaps prophetically, named Greg.
The small, more muted orange/brown is Chickzilla
Mid size orange/brown is Cher

The grays are HannahBelle Lector and Big Mac *tho I still can't really tell them apart unless they are next to each other. Big Mac is definately still smaller.

The white one is Hummus (she was the color of hummus when we got her.... hey, my daughter named them)



Chickzilla and Cher (I think that's Greg there!)


Chickzilla has muted colors (left) while Cher (right) has darker browns, esp on the head, and more of a comb

I only see the one cockerel, Greg. Chickzilla and Cher in the bottom pic are both pullets, as are all the others pictured, except poor Greg. Your question about sexy legs

on the pullets only works some of the time. In general, cockerels will have thicker legs than pullets, but it's not a really reliable way to sex them, just part of the bigger picture.

It can be difficult getting rid of cockerels this time of year. Most chicks have grown out and the market is flooded with unwanted cockerels. You can try craigslist, swap meets, and some feed stores will sell birds for you. Ask on your BYC local thread for ideas. Cheap or free is the best way to go.

A quick word on Ameraucanas. The name, spelled that way, is used on BYC to denote a bird that meets the standard of perfection (it could compete in a poultry show). EE (Easter Egger or Americana) is a similar bird that, because of less careful breeding, no longer meets the standard in some way (green legs, wrong colors, wrong comb, etc), but still lays blue or, in most cases, green eggs. Some hatchery stock will even lay brown eggs. Your all white EE has green legs (instead of blue/slate), so is not purebred and called an EE. You can look on the site for the Ameraucana Breeders Club to see the colors that are acceptable. That being said, I have found the EEs to be healthy and good layers, and I will have more in the future.

By the way, I see this was you first post. Welcome to BYC and the world of chickens!

Edited to add one more thought. If you plan on replacing Greg, do a little research on adding chickens to an existing flock. It can be difficult to mix ages and when a single bird is added, it will often get picked on.

 

[FoxholeFarm]

As wishing4wings said, it's a bad time of year to be rehoming cockerels. Thanks everyone who helped me sex mine. Hopefully someone in northern CA or even the SF Bay Area is interested in this beautiful and sweet boy. There's a listing for him now:
Click here

 

[David1998]

The coloration is typically female. It is hard to tell about the combs from the pictures. I never have any luck getting clear pictures of combs either. If you look carefully at the comb there should be a row of little roundish bumps. If there are 3 rows side by side, it probably is a male. A single row usually indicates a female (note the probably in both cases) -- there are no hard and fast rules with these birds.

Another way to tell is that males usually have larger feet (for their body size) than females as they get a little older. Again, usually.

Keep us posted. We all learn as we watch other people's chicks develop (and sometimes surprise us).

I can't tell by the comb in the pics, but the feather color & pattern both look girlish. However, the red patches can start to develop after 4 weeks, so keep an eye out.

To find a male at only 4 weeks, your best bet is to look for a 3 row pea comb - indicator but not promise of male. Next look for the slightest bit of orangish pink on the comb. The pullet combs remain pale, but the males get pink between 4-6 weeks old.

Thanks for the advice. When I look closely at their combs, on most of them I just see a few tiny bumps here and there. They don’t really appear in lines, just more randomly about. One a couple of them, I see a distinguishable row of little bumps in the middle with very, very tiny bumps on each side. Would that be the 3 rows you’re talking about?

 

[fshinggrl]

Thanks for the advice. When I look closely at their combs, on most of them I just see a few tiny bumps here and there. They don’t really appear in lines, just more randomly about. One a couple of them, I see a distinguishable row of little bumps in the middle with very, very tiny bumps on each side. Would that be the 3 rows you’re talking about?

Yes, sounds about right. HERE is a picture of a comb of one of my roosters when he was young. You can kinda see what we're talking about. He was about 8 weeks old here though.

 

[Faraday40]

Here's an example of a cockerel at 4.5 weeks old.
The comb had just a tiny bit of color and some small red-brown patches.






Below is one of his sons at 3 weeks. The only indication was the wide comb.
The red did not appear until later.



Here is one of his daughters at around 5 weeks. The comb was always narrow and the feather pattern stayed even.

 

[David1998]

Thanks for the great pictures and explanation. I can see the differences in their combs clearly, so that helps me better know what to look for. It’s possible that I only have pullets, and trying to discern the differences is like looking for a difference that isn’t there. I’ll look closer at mine tonight.

 

[FoxholeFarm]

I have realized this morning that one of my EE hens from last years batch of chicks has a three-row comb. I realize it's slim odds that this would happen to me twice, but a little part of me has to hold out hope for my blue wheaten.

 

[lablover]

5 week update: There's still no color in the comb, despite what the pics show. I can't see where it's grown at all. The patterning seems to have mellowed out a bit on the wings, I need to get a pic of that. I have two others with EE patterns, but they have single combs. At what age do those start changing? They both look the same, small and no color.

4 week pic



5 week pic

 

[FoxholeFarm]

That looks distinctly female to me.