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

[Indyshent]

Oh gosh I hope not. Lol. Started out with 12 pullets, we lost two. I was petty sure the EE was a rooster, and we were going to keep him, I don't think we would have enough hens and space for another rooster.

Its wattles and face are super red, and the wattles seem bigger than everyone else's. You've a number of girls that look like they're getting sizable wattles, but they're not as bright as your golden girl.

My Wyandottes this year are all questionable. The biggest silver one looks like it's trying to get wing bars, and the golden laced has a shapeless mass of poofy butt feathers and bright, gleaming red comb and wattles. Both could go either way and were sexed as pullets. Think the bitty SLW is a girl just because it's really shy.

Keep in mind I have a bumper crop of roos who were sexed supposedly as pullets this year. Be it because they were mislabeled on the bins, store personnel had no clue and told me what I wanted to hear or because someone at Townline had no farking clue what he/she/it was doing, it makes precious little difference. 2 out of 6 EEs are certifiably male. 2 out of 3 buff Orps were boys (both died tragically). That doesn't even include the straight runs (two dark Brahmas, one Welsummer, one partridge Rock and one Australorp) or however many more are hiding in the flock currently.

 

[lizardandchicks]

I have an easter egger. Any thoughts on male or female yet? It is just over 2 weeks old.

 

[ameliadanielle]

The more I look at that Wyandotte the more I'm seeing the differences between it and the other three. All of our chickens were purchased from the pullet bin at TSC. Which when I asked an employee what breed they were I was told they were "Pullets!" /facepalm

I didn't buy any straight run chicks because I knew we weren't going to be doing any breeding and we wouldn't have enough hens to risk multiple roosters. The gold lace wyandottes, the buff orpingtons, and the red stars are about a week older than the easter egger rooster and our little red hen that I still can't decide what breed she is. We were just going to have 8, the wyandottes, orpingtons, and red stars. When we saw the little easter eggers and my husband saw that one red chick in the pullet tub we just had to get them. They were the only colored chicks in a sea of white babies.

I have just discovered my dog is most definitely the culprit. Our two easter egger hens we assumed something else had tried to get them. With the feathers pulled off them. However, we've gone weeks without incident, that was a month or more ago when they were babies. Last night we caught our great pyrenees holding down our easter egger rooster, plucking him. I searched the yard to locate all the chickens and do a count and discovered she had also plucked a gold lace hen as well. They are not damaged much more than having their feathers plucked and they're in our spare bathroom recuperating. I called my dad, who breeds the dogs and where our great pyrenees came from. He's retiring her dad. As he is relatively new and the mother and her previous babies have never shown even a hint of a problem. I called him upset that our only remaining easter egger is in fact a rooster he got excited because he has easter egger hens and no rooster and was planning on borrowing our little guy and seeing what colors come out from a breeding. Then I had to call and let him know our little rooster is living in my bath tub half naked. He's coming over today to look them over with me and help me doctor them if they need it, he has far more chicken experience than I do.

Now after it stops raining I'm going out to inspect our other chickens for signs of being roosters. Because there is no way our little back yard with the few hens we have can hold more than one rooster. Decisions will have to be made. Maybe I can do a trade with my dad and shuffle chickens around so don't have more than one rooster. I'll probably end up with the wyandotte rooster and my easter egger guy may end up permanently at my dads house with his girls. He breeds them though, so maybe he can hook me up later with some easter egger babies to raise up.

 

[Indyshent]

The more I look at that Wyandotte the more I'm seeing the differences between it and the other three. All of our chickens were purchased from the pullet bin at TSC. Which when I asked an employee what breed they were I was told they were "Pullets!" /facepalm

I didn't buy any straight run chicks because I knew we weren't going to be doing any breeding and we wouldn't have enough hens to risk multiple roosters. The gold lace wyandottes, the buff orpingtons, and the red stars are about a week older than the easter egger rooster and our little red hen that I still can't decide what breed she is. We were just going to have 8, the wyandottes, orpingtons, and red stars. When we saw the little easter eggers and my husband saw that one red chick in the pullet tub we just had to get them. They were the only colored chicks in a sea of white babies.

I have just discovered my dog is most definitely the culprit. Our two easter egger hens we assumed something else had tried to get them. With the feathers pulled off them. However, we've gone weeks without incident, that was a month or more ago when they were babies. Last night we caught our great pyrenees holding down our easter egger rooster, plucking him. I searched the yard to locate all the chickens and do a count and discovered she had also plucked a gold lace hen as well. They are not damaged much more than having their feathers plucked and they're in our spare bathroom recuperating. I called my dad, who breeds the dogs and where our great pyrenees came from. He's retiring her dad. As he is relatively new and the mother and her previous babies have never shown even a hint of a problem. I called him upset that our only remaining easter egger is in fact a rooster he got excited because he has easter egger hens and no rooster and was planning on borrowing our little guy and seeing what colors come out from a breeding. Then I had to call and let him know our little rooster is living in my bath tub half naked. He's coming over today to look them over with me and help me doctor them if they need it, he has far more chicken experience than I do.

Now after it stops raining I'm going out to inspect our other chickens for signs of being roosters. Because there is no way our little back yard with the few hens we have can hold more than one rooster. Decisions will have to be made. Maybe I can do a trade with my dad and shuffle chickens around so don't have more than one rooster. I'll probably end up with the wyandotte rooster and my easter egger guy may end up permanently at my dads house with his girls. He breeds them though, so maybe he can hook me up later with some easter egger babies to raise up.

Roosters are weird. Don't sweat them. See how they work out. Some can coexist; some can't without bloodshed or even death. Some have the sex drives of unsupervised teenaged boys locked in a mosh pit full of Swedish swimwear models; others are more comparably amorous to tubes of toothpaste and couldn't make a fertile egg to save their lives. Some are loud; some aren't. Roosters are like other animals (and people, for that matter). They're not all going to be the same. You'll get serial rapists alongside the priests and knights in shining armor.

That said, I don't think six girls and two boys is good odds, but there's no guarantee that the Wyandotte (or anyone else) is a rooster yet.

I am so sorry about your dog though. We took in a foster for a lady recovering from surgery, and hardly sooner than we had him home, he started bowling our tom turkey over and ripping his feathers out. We put up with this for months before the last straw of him jumping the fence and biting a neighbor. After that, the lady finally decided she wanted him back because it was that or euthanize him. Good luck in finding another dog, if you're inclined to search for another, and I'm glad that you found out sooner rather than later and that nobody died. by the time we finally had enough, he's maimed three ducks, a turkey and killed two chicks (a confirmed EE hen and a BO rooster)

 

[ameliadanielle]

Roosters are weird. Don't sweat them. See how they work out. Some can coexist; some can't without bloodshed or even death. Some have the sex drives of unsupervised teenaged boys locked in a mosh pit full of Swedish swimwear models; others are more comparably amorous to tubes of toothpaste and couldn't make a fertile egg to save their lives. Some are loud; some aren't. Roosters are like other animals (and people, for that matter). They're not all going to be the same. You'll get serial rapists alongside the priests and knights in shining armor.

That said, I don't think six girls and two boys is good odds, but there's no guarantee that the Wyandotte (or anyone else) is a rooster yet.

I am so sorry about your dog though. We took in a foster for a lady recovering from surgery, and hardly sooner than we had him home, he started bowling our tom turkey over and ripping his feathers out. We put up with this for months before the last straw of him jumping the fence and biting a neighbor. After that, the lady finally decided she wanted him back because it was that or euthanize him. Good luck in finding another dog, if you're inclined to search for another, and I'm glad that you found out sooner rather than later and that nobody died. by the time we finally had enough, he's maimed three ducks, a turkey and killed two chicks (a confirmed EE hen and a BO rooster)

We had thought it was an owl that got our other two easter eggers. Because an owl tried to carry off our runt piglet. The two chicks we lost were over a month ago. Not a scratch on them. Just a few feathers missing from their backs. Nothing like this. This dog was born and raised surrounded by chickens. Her brother is guarding flocks of free range chickens at my dads house. We just didn't even think it was her. We caught her red handed, holding them down and plucking them. They don't have any puncture wounds, thankfully she didn't bite them. She's such a great family dog though. She's just not to be trusted around chickens. We are having trouble deciding on which to keep, her or the chickens. Otherwise we'll have to make her an inside dog. We already have a little poodle mix inside that we have to supervise when he goes out to go to the bathroom because he'll try and chase the chickens. But he's old and slow and has been hit by a car so he can't catch them. He may have been a bad influence on her, because she's young and fast and she can in fact catch them.

Either way, I'm pretty sure this EE is a rooster. We don't have the other two EEs to compare him too, but now that we have them up close and inside his legs are double the thickness of the Wyandotte that he's recuperating with in the bathroom. If he goes to my dads the plan is to breed him with my dad's EE hens and see what colors come out of it. So next year we could be raising some EE babies. We weren't planning on having a rooster anyway, even if the gold lace turns out to be a hen. No one is crowing yet, or attempting to that I've heard. I've just had a feeling our EE is a rooster, the comb has been bright red for 3 weeks. It's so bright I didn't even notice the Wyandotte until you pointed it out. He also walks around cocky like a little rooster. My plan was originally if any of them ended up a rooster we would eat them, but I just love the EE, he's become my favorite. I told my husband screw the neighbors we're keeping him, when I thought he was the only rooster. I just know if we end up with another rooster I could immediately have a home for the EE where I would know he's being taken care of without trying to risk keeping two roosters or more with only a few hens in a 1/3 of an acre back yard.

 

[ibarbidahl]

AMelia- The second picture I think I see some saddle feathers. The shots are very washed out... Any chance you can get a top shot without the glare? I've seen a few of this coloration turn into hens after all and I'd like to see if nothing else just to compare later and see what it ends up being. I've got one coming up I think is turning these colors.

 

[ibarbidahl]

Well, in five days my little crew have all developed a darker coloration and growth to their combs. Now I"m worried that all of them will be roos. HA! I'm still holding out hope as they were all "pullets" and surely at least 2 of 4 will be girls, right?

Here's the latest...



This picture is washed out- but look how wide that comb is all the sudden!? (last week on right)



The wheaten is really showing now, but seems to be laced and barred.


There is the color. The comb is still small though, so holding my breath another week. Last weeks on the right.

I will update again, but thought for the sake of watching what develops I'd post here.

 

[Indyshent]

We had thought it was an owl that got our other two easter eggers. Because an owl tried to carry off our runt piglet. The two chicks we lost were over a month ago. Not a scratch on them. Just a few feathers missing from their backs. Nothing like this. This dog was born and raised surrounded by chickens. Her brother is guarding flocks of free range chickens at my dads house. We just didn't even think it was her. We caught her red handed, holding them down and plucking them. They don't have any puncture wounds, thankfully she didn't bite them. She's such a great family dog though. She's just not to be trusted around chickens. We are having trouble deciding on which to keep, her or the chickens. Otherwise we'll have to make her an inside dog. We already have a little poodle mix inside that we have to supervise when he goes out to go to the bathroom because he'll try and chase the chickens. But he's old and slow and has been hit by a car so he can't catch them. He may have been a bad influence on her, because she's young and fast and she can in fact catch them.

Either way, I'm pretty sure this EE is a rooster. We don't have the other two EEs to compare him too, but now that we have them up close and inside his legs are double the thickness of the Wyandotte that he's recuperating with in the bathroom. If he goes to my dads the plan is to breed him with my dad's EE hens and see what colors come out of it. So next year we could be raising some EE babies. We weren't planning on having a rooster anyway, even if the gold lace turns out to be a hen. No one is crowing yet, or attempting to that I've heard. I've just had a feeling our EE is a rooster, the comb has been bright red for 3 weeks. It's so bright I didn't even notice the Wyandotte until you pointed it out. He also walks around cocky like a little rooster. My plan was originally if any of them ended up a rooster we would eat them, but I just love the EE, he's become my favorite. I told my husband screw the neighbors we're keeping him, when I thought he was the only rooster. I just know if we end up with another rooster I could immediately have a home for the EE where I would know he's being taken care of without trying to risk keeping two roosters or more with only a few hens in a 1/3 of an acre back yard.

If his legs are double anyone else's in thickness, he's a rooster. This means the Wyandotte likely isn't or it'd have thicker legs too. I've never seen an EE with thick legs that wasn't a roo--they're not a big breed like Brahmas, so it's just not likely a girl is going to develop thick legs. Keep an eye on him and remember that it's not guaranteed someone starts crowing or laying eggs.

 

[ameliadanielle]

I haven't compared legs of the possible wyandotte rooster. I was just comparing him with the hen is with in the house right now. The chickens are all jumpy and it's been hard to get too close to them to look at them good. The dog really scared them all. He's bigger than the hen that's with him too and she's a week older than him, he's heavier than her and I thought wyandottes were a heavier breed. The hen that is the same age as the EE is still smaller than everyone else. I've had a nagging feeling that the EE is a rooster since his comb went red when he was around 5 weeks old. His attitude seems different than the others, but that could be because I don't have any other EEs his age to compare that with. My dad also thinks he's a rooster. I've just started calling it he now. If he turns out to be a she that's fine. I'd rather be prepared for roosters and not have any than expect all hens and then have to deal with roosters.

 

[curious chickee]

Well, in five days my little crew have all developed a darker This picture is washed out- but look how wide that comb is all the sudden!? [/URL][/COLOR][/U] There is the color. The comb is still small though, so holding my breath another week. Last weeks on the right.

Here is my similar looking pullet 6 weeks old for comparison