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

[chickmammy]

Pickles- named by my 4 year old because she "picks" on everyone. I believe she is a female. Her wing feathers grew in full very quickly and a week ahead of everyone else. She is in charge of the brooder; she's got a bit of a mean streak, but loves to scratch and peck at the bedding. Somehow this also makes me believe she is a girl, lol.



Gemma- very pretty, distinct, concise coloring, even now- two weeks later.

 

[Indyshent]

All 9 eggs that went into lockdown, hatched, & were moved into the brooder. I got 6 black & 3 lavender chicks.
So out of my 12 fertile eggs. 75% hatched. (If I didn't drop that egg, perhaps it would have been 83%. I still feel bad about that one!)
Here's a handful of cuteness.

I had to band some of the chicks so I can tell them apart. Some are mixes.
Like this Easter Egger Orpington. (I just couldn't resist setting one to see what hatched out.) Looks like she got her Mama's cheeks.

Just don't take a pic of an EE at the wrong angle!




My busy brooder. I'm trying paper towels for the 1st 2-3 days. I think I still prefer the large wood flakes, though.

All chickies look grumpy from the "wrong" angle That said, those are great cheeks!



I too prefer wood chips. They smell nice, look nicer longer and make great compost

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Thank you, that does clarify it more for me...more eveness/consistancy. I'll still need help though. Well, Most of my chicks have black/white which I read was more Roo. They are really beautiful...not plain. They walk different...upright...just different somehow. Chest bumping, wings out brawls. One of mine dances with wings out like he/she is trying to win the attention of a woman. Skinnier, bonier. The biggest clue...is when some of the chicks sleep these possible Roos, go up and dry hump them behind. I dunno maybe I just have perve chicks...I am not sure if that is all normal.

This is my second post, so I don't think I can post pics yet. But I do have some of them from day 2...so cute. I also have two orpingtons and one has long wing feathers and one has short- so I think one is a girl and one is a boy. I have two Barred rocks and I got home and saw you could tell from color patterns at hatching and oh boy I think they are both boys! A blotchy large white spot on their heads and more orange legs than black. I got my chicks from the farm supply in town.

Funny thing is I bought them sexed...but I think most of them are Roos.

Lynns

Chest bumping, brawling, showing dominance displays is done by pullets as well as cockerels. Totally normal, nothing pervy about it!

It's all about finding a place in the pecking order. My EE chicks started cannonballing the other chicks at about 2 weeks. They would fly/jump straight up and bomb the other chicks. The larger of the two, a big lanky hulker, was relentless, and I was sure would be male. Nope, pullet and as an adult, mid way in pecking order. Your chicks are adorable, especially that last one. If you bought sexed chicks and you get more than one male, you should contact the feed store.

As for your barred Rocks, give them some time. Most big hatcheries are not known for careful, selective breeding and that results in chicks with less uniformity. When the feathers come in, you want to see more black than white for BR pullets. Overall appearance should be dark gray. Cockerels will look whiter with their fatter white barring.

One more note about using feathering as a way of sexing. Sometimes it seems to be a good predictor, but everything I've read about it says that it takes very careful breeding to keep that trait working dependably. Some people have strains of birds for which it works very well, but I don't think it's the most reliable indicator in hatchery stock. If it worked dependably, you know the hatcheries would use it rather than paying the big bucks to the relatively few people who put in the years it takes to learn accurate vent sexing.

Bottom line, don't worry too much. Unless you have incredibly bad luck, if they really were sexed, you most likely have pullets.

 

[Indyshent]

Mine really were sexed, and they're still mostly roos. I think this is more the fault of personnel at the feed store not realizing that they have straight run bins and erroneously sticking pullet signs on them because, when I took their word for it, almost everything from those assorted bins wound up a roo (a good chunk of the sexed pullets too). All but six of them was paid for as pullets

 

[chickmammy]

Mine really were sexed, and they're still mostly roos. I think this is more the fault of personnel at the feed store not realizing that they have straight run bins and erroneously sticking pullet signs on them because, when I took their word for it, almost everything from those assorted bins wound up a roo (a good chunk of the sexed pullets too). All but six of them was paid for as pullets

The farm store I got mine from were all Sexed Pullets. They didn't sell any mixed bins. Just egg birds, and a few meat birds that also layed a lot of eggs. Not a lot of choices, but good choices. Something I did notice is they ordered 100 EE, 45 were left by the time I got there (3 hours after opening). Geesh they went quick! The others not so quickly. So I had the choice of the brown chipmonks, some all black plain ones, and there was the one black chipmonk one that you see in my pics (Esmeralda). I had to have her she was so pretty! I was surprised though there were no white ones, or light colored gray ones like I see on this site that people seem to love. Then I thought maybe they sold out of them quickly, or maybe you have to get them from a breeder. I would buy from a breeder, but having to order 15-25 is too many for my needs, and nobody round me has chickens to split with.

 

[whitmore]

The farm store I got mine from were all Sexed Pullets. They didn't sell any mixed bins. Just egg birds, and a few meat birds that also layed a lot of eggs. Not a lot of choices, but good choices. Something I did notice is they ordered 100 EE, 45 were left by the time I got there (3 hours after opening). Geesh they went quick! The others not so quickly. So I had the choice of the brown chipmonks, some all black plain ones, and there was the one black chipmonk one that you see in my pics (Esmeralda). I had to have her she was so pretty! I was surprised though there were no white ones, or light colored gray ones like I see on this site that people seem to love. Then I thought maybe they sold out of them quickly, or maybe you have to get them from a breeder. I would buy from a breeder, but having to order 15-25 is too many for my needs, and nobody round me has chickens to split with.

I was the first in at the hardware store I picked mine up from last year and there was little to no color variety. There were light and dark chipmunk, a few brown, a few yellow, one white and that was it. No black,blue, or lavender at all and that is what I was hoping for. I bought the white one and it ended up with terrible scissor beak. I hand fed her mash for a couple of weeks before she had to be put down. I had a light and a dark chipunk, a brown and a yellow. They are all a similar gold pattern except the yellow turned out wheaten like.

 

[HappyChickadee]

I picked her from the pullet bin but I wonder - pullet or cockerel?

I found another pick of her comb I took last week. This is Norma Jean.

 

[LadyCluck77]

I picked her from the pullet bin but I wonder - pullet or cockerel?

I found another pick of her comb I took last week. This is Norma Jean.

Not fully certain yet, she is still young, but the salmon breast feathers are typically a pullet pattern. The orange on the back of the neck is something to keep an eye on, but not a definite male sign. Overall the pattern looks even so far, which is good. I'm guessing female.

 

[Doobie]

Every one of them looks like a pullet to me. Soon, you'll be swimming in blue eggs.

X2

X3

Here is a close up of Bellachix, my neighbor thinks its a cockerel, I said a bunch of smart chicken people told be it was a pullet. Does this pic change anything?

 

[whitmore]

I picked her from the pullet bin but I wonder - pullet or cockerel?

I found another pick of her comb I took last week. This is Norma Jean.

I had one that looked just like this. I thought she was going to be a he for a long time. Here is what she looks like now.