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

[bruceha2000]

I'm afraid I don't know my breeds well enough to even guess what you've got there. EEs should have green legs, yours are all yellow legged.

Looks like TSC uses Hoover Hatchery. You could look at what they THINK they are selling and see if you can find matching birds.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

They are probably some other type of blue/green layer then. There are quite a few new types being put out now and it's hard to keep track. EEs are based off of Ameraucana type birds... they have pea combs, beards and muffs, no wattles, and green or slate colored legs.
I agree, you have only one likely pullet.

This is not always true. Since EE are a mix, all they need is a blue egg gene, and it doesn't matter where it came from. So they CAN have muffs, beard and pea come, but don't have to. If they're genetics includes a crested cream legbar, they can have crests and single combs... I knew somebody on here who had an EE with a rose comb, since the father was an EE and the mother a GLW.
EE are any mix that has the intention of laying colored eggs.
They have many names, including easter egger, amerIcana (not ameraucana), green queen, blue bell, and several others.... but their all mixed breed, colored egg layers; known commonly as easter eggers.

 

[Finnie]

Here’s some better picks of the EEs I got from tractor supply—suppose to be all pullets but I know this isn’t guaranteed. Any help with determining gender would be great. Still not sure if I should wait longer to determine or not. If 3 of the 4 are Roos, I will need to try and rehome 2 as I know you can only have one rooster, but this will leave me with one roo and a hen. Will this be hard to incorporate more chickens with them as I wanted at least 3 to 4 hens. Advice needed please! Also someone said in this thread they may not be EEs, if not any idea what these could be as I got them from TS from EE bin. :/

This is interesting because their combs and wattles LOOK like cockerels, but their feathering and coloring look like pullets to me. I’m wondering if they might be older than you think, at an age where pullets start to get red combs. (But gosh, I think they are too small for that.)

When you got them, were they tiny chicks with only down, or did they have feathers on their wings and bodies?

 

[Finnie]

I have noticed at my two TSCs, ever since they did away with the new tower brooders and went back to stock tanks, they only put a few tanks out, and they are combining several breeds together. Sometimes they are careful to combine only breeds that can be told apart, but other times they don’t realize they are mixing them up. And I have seen bins with 3 or 4 obviously different breeds, but only two signs. Then I ask what else is in there, and they usually say Easter Eggers. Or they don’t know.

 

[bruceha2000]

And even if they don't tell you "I don't know" they probably don't know. That is one reason I order direct from the hatchery. Way too easy for someone at the "farm store" to screw up the chicks in the bins.

I remember Blooie once posting that she saw a tank of sex linked chicks. Almost all male even though the sign said pullets. She brought it up to the store employee who told her they were pullets because they were in the pullet tank.

 

[Finnie]

store employee who told her they were pullets because they were in the pullet tank.

 

[hgrimes]

Hello! Here is an update on my black and white EE chick that I posted last week. Her wide comb is continuing to get pinker, but still appears to have a single row. About a week ago, a small lone tan feather emerged on one of her wings. I can't find any others, just the one! Thanks for any help!

I have a 6-week-old easter egger and was hoping someone could help me confirm the sex. She's supposed to be a pullet, but her comb is FAT compared to our other easter egger chick, so that has me worried (it looks like it has 1 row though, so maybe I'm overthinking this?). Her comb is turning just ever so slightly pink the past 2 days, but it's also been crazy hot out. She's a total bossypants with the other chicks, but she runs away and acts like a monster is after her when I try to pick her up despite being handled constantly since day 1.

Here are a bunch of pics. Please ignore the tiny red freckle - that's not her beak, she just really likes strawberries.

 

[hgrimes]

Hello! Here is an update on my black and white EE chick that I posted last week. Her wide comb is continuing to get pinker, but still appears to have a single row. About a week ago, a small lone tan feather emerged on one of her wings. I can't find any others, just the one! Thanks for any help!

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No one replied to this, but unfortunately "she's" crowing now, so that answers that!

 

[bruceha2000]

Well that is a bummer. I think the black and whites are the hardest to sex.

 

[TheFrogLady]

I'm hoping the experts here can help me out. I've been worried about this hatchery-sexed girl since she was a few days old. No particular reason--hopefully I'm just paranoid because I've had an accidental rooster before.

She did have a bit more curiosity than the other chicks when she first came home, but she's settled in since then and now she doesn't stand out in any way, behavior-wise. She is the only Easter Egger in my mixed flock.

She's currently 7 weeks old.

Her comb is large but still very yellow/pale. She doesn't have the rooster posture at all--she walks with her chest horizontally low to the ground like a hen. But I'm still a bit worried about those splashes of red on her wings.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to look and guess!