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

[Lindsay119]

Those tail feathers will fall out and be replaced in a month or two, so they might look completely different. Attitude is not always the best indicator. I was sure I had a male Australorp this spring, bold as brass, but at 12 weeks, it's still looking like a pullet.

I sure hope she's a pullet!! I'm just so impatient lol

 

[Regrn5]

These are my 16 week EE. Pullets? or Roos? No one is crowing. However, I am confused when after I read the article on EE sexing on the colors of their feathers and single row combs. Thank you!

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

Amelia is looking good to be a pullet, pale thin comb and an evenly dispersed color pattern. Ainsley also has pullet comb so far, but the coloring is a little concerning. I see distinct patches of darker color, which often indicates a cockerel. There's still hope, though, because I have seen this color of EE turn out to be a pullet... the darker color ends up not being quite the right shade of red and becomes a more overall pattern across most of the bird, not just on the wings, like males get. I do see darker patches on the wings, but also high on the breast, the back and tail. That's a lot of words to say I'm not sure! Hope you will post update pic next week. Fingers crossed for two pullets!

Welp, Amelia and Ainsley are now just over 10 weeks old!!! It's amazing that they looked so different as newly hatched chicks, and now they look so similar! But there's a few features that set them apart.

Amelia: Her barring has faded away to more of a solid reddish-tan with black speckles on her back half, with some penciled feathers around her neck. She has adorable cheek tufts, and her comb is a single row of slightly raised peas.

Ainsley: Her neck and back are starting to fill in with black penciling, and she still has the dark red wash on her wings. She has muffs and a small grey-ish beard, and her pea comb is a little wider and flat.

Still pullet-y?

 

[SilverKelpie]

I have a 7-week old sexed Easter Egger pullet from MPC that is frightening me in its development. The idea of a rooster wasn't terribly troublesome to me because I figured it would be an opportunity to learn how to process a chicken. However, when the chicks came, my four-year old almost immediately bonded to the Easter Egger. She is really attached to that chicken and considers it hers. Plus, my husband, who has been somewhat iffy about the whole chicken thing, is now attached to it! He told me he wouldn't be able to eat it (although added that he'd gladly eat the Dominique. Poor Dominique.) Add that to the fact that it is probably nearly impossible to find a home for an Easter Egger rooster, and I have been left chanting "Please don't be a cockerel. Please don't be a cockerel. ANY of the other ones but this one, please!"

The comb looks like a pullet to me, pale and small. The color seems inbetween. It is blotchy like a cockerel, but even like a pullet. It is evenly blotchy. I don't know what to think. But that arc and pointy-ness in the tail? That scares me. Its behavior and noises are also a little different. Its chirps and calls have a hoarser, more fluting quality. Also, it likes to try to snuggle up under the other chickens (that's the photo with the Dominique). Help? What say the denizens of Backyard Chickens?

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

I have a 7-week old sexed Easter Egger pullet from MPC that is frightening me in its development. The idea of a rooster wasn't terribly troublesome to me because I figured it would be an opportunity to learn how to process a chicken. However, when the chicks came, my four-year old almost immediately bonded to the Easter Egger. She is really attached to that chicken and considers it hers. Plus, my husband, who has been somewhat iffy about the whole chicken thing, is now attached to it! He told me he wouldn't be able to eat it (although added that he'd gladly eat the Dominique. Poor Dominique.) Add that to the fact that it is probably nearly impossible to find a home for an Easter Egger rooster, and I have been left chanting "Please don't be a cockerel. Please don't be a cockerel. ANY of the other ones but this one, please!"

The comb looks like a pullet to me, pale and small. The color seems inbetween. It is blotchy like a cockerel, but even like a pullet. It is evenly blotchy. I don't know what to think. But that arc and pointy-ness in the tail? That scares me. Its behavior and noises are also a little different. Its chirps and calls have a hoarser, more fluting quality. Also, it likes to try to snuggle up under the other chickens (that's the photo with the Dominique). Help? What say the denizens of Backyard Chickens?View attachment 1053937 View attachment 1053938 View attachment 1053939 View attachment 1053941

Looks like a pullet to me and she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

View attachment 1053753 View attachment 1053754 View attachment 1053755 View attachment 1053754 View attachment 1053753 View attachment 1053754 View attachment 1053755


These are my 16 week EE. Pullets? or Roos? No one is crowing. However, I am confused when after I read the article on EE sexing on the colors of their feathers and single row combs. Thank you!

At 16 wks, cockerels would have male saddle feathers and larger bright red combs. Those are very pretty pullets.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Welp, Amelia and Ainsley are now just over 10 weeks old!!! It's amazing that they looked so different as newly hatched chicks, and now they look so similar! But there's a few features that set them apart.

Amelia: Her barring has faded away to more of a solid reddish-tan with black speckles on her back half, with some penciled feathers around her neck. She has adorable cheek tufts, and her comb is a single row of slightly raised peas.
View attachment 1053902

Ainsley: Her neck and back are starting to fill in with black penciling, and she still has the dark red wash on her wings. She has muffs and a small grey-ish beard, and her pea comb is a little wider and flat.View attachment 1053903

Still pullet-y?

Wow! Thanks for the update. These are 2 of the most unusually colored EEs I have seen. Despite the darker red in the wings on both, I think the size and color of the combs wins out and they are both pullets. Unless they are very late bloomers, but EE cockerels usually develop fat red combs before 10 wks.
Amelia is trying to trick you with those long feathers in the saddle area and long hackle feathers too. I think 12-13 weeks is when the male saddles grow in, so too soon for that. If it weren't for those combs, I sure would be thinking boys!
Hope you can update again in a couple weeks. Really enjoy seeing how they have developed. (You're sure they're 10 wks, right? )

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I have a 7-week old sexed Easter Egger pullet from MPC that is frightening me in its development. The idea of a rooster wasn't terribly troublesome to me because I figured it would be an opportunity to learn how to process a chicken. However, when the chicks came, my four-year old almost immediately bonded to the Easter Egger. She is really attached to that chicken and considers it hers. Plus, my husband, who has been somewhat iffy about the whole chicken thing, is now attached to it! He told me he wouldn't be able to eat it (although added that he'd gladly eat the Dominique. Poor Dominique.) Add that to the fact that it is probably nearly impossible to find a home for an Easter Egger rooster, and I have been left chanting "Please don't be a cockerel. Please don't be a cockerel. ANY of the other ones but this one, please!"

The comb looks like a pullet to me, pale and small. The color seems inbetween. It is blotchy like a cockerel, but even like a pullet. It is evenly blotchy. I don't know what to think. But that arc and pointy-ness in the tail? That scares me. Its behavior and noises are also a little different. Its chirps and calls have a hoarser, more fluting quality. Also, it likes to try to snuggle up under the other chickens (that's the photo with the Dominique). Help? What say the denizens of Backyard Chickens?View attachment 1053937 View attachment 1053938 View attachment 1053939 View attachment 1053941

Agree, she's a pretty pullet.

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

Wow! Thanks for the update. These are 2 of the most unusually colored EEs I have seen. Despite the darker red in the wings on both, I think the size and color of the combs wins out and they are both pullets. Unless they are very late bloomers, but EE cockerels usually develop fat red combs before 10 wks.
Amelia is trying to trick you with those long feathers in the saddle area and long hackle feathers too. I think 12-13 weeks is when the male saddles grow in, so too soon for that. If it weren't for those combs, I sure would be thinking boys!
Hope you can update again in a couple weeks. Really enjoy seeing how they have developed. (You're sure they're 10 wks, right? )

I know, they both have been so tricky!!! Pretty sure they're about 10 weeks old -- -- when I got them on April 14th, presumably at a few days old, this is what they looked like:

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I know, they both have been so tricky!!! Pretty sure they're about 10 weeks old -- -- when I got them on April 14th, presumably at a few days old, this is what they looked like:View attachment 1053946

Sound about right! I was looking at some other pics, and the dark red on your girls isn't really the rooster red color, which looks almost maroon. Back on the "other" sexing thread there was a little bantam cochin cockerel a few posts before yours, and you can see the color on his wings is more reddish, while your pullets are more brownish. It's hard to tell sometimes without something to compare.