Easter Egger Sexing

[AJoy16]

I bought some straight run EEs from someone in a chicken group on FB. When I bought them she told me to sex them I should look at their wings and the ones that were all the same length were males and the ones with a W kind of shaped wing was a female. I've since learned that's not even wing sexing and that most people say wing sexing doesnt work on EEs. I have 12 "Ameraucana" pullets I got from TSC and I did look at their wings and it seemed to match up with wing sexing that they were indeed female. So I tried my hand at vent sexing. In my opinion all my straight run EEs vents looked the same as my 12 "Ameraucana" pullets but honestly I dont believe that they're all pullets. I also looked to see which stood differently but really none of my flock sit lower or hunker down. They're all very friendly and stand tall. So I read about color sexing and I didn't quite grasp it. 5 of my EEs are almost solid black. I'm not sure how to sex them. Can anyone dumb this down for me? I've attached a pic of what I believe is a pullet. I call her Marigold. My straight run EEs are supposed to be a little over a month now I believe. I'm seeing some comb development but no pink or red and no waddle that I can see.

 

[chicknmania]

At a month old there's no definite way to sex them, IMO, unless you do it routinely, as in working for a hatchery...and even then they make mistakes. Especially with EE's. I have an EE that I was sure was a cockerel from the time he was 5 weeks old, but I argued with the hatchery about it all the way up to 13 weeks of age, even after he started crowing at 10 weeks. I also posted his picture on BYC when he was six weeks old, and everybody thought he was a she. You are most likely not going to know for sure until 10 - 12 weeks. or even 13 weeks.

 

[AJoy16]

Thank you. I had actually read about the color sexing for EEs in some older forums here so I thought a few more people could elaborate on what I would be looking for.

 

[chicknmania]

After a while, you'll get pretty good at figuring out the sex just by watching them, but I think it is always a guessing game no matter what method you use.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

By color sexing, what they mean is that you should look for rust colored leakage popping up on the wing bars. With that chick being red, its going to be difficult to see, so don't go jumping to conclusions. The easiest and most reliable way is to watch the comb size and color as they develop. By about 8 weeks you or us should be able to give you a definitive answer.

 

[chicknmania]

Even that is no guarantee. I've had a few pulllets that I swore would be cockerels because of their comb size and color, but Nope.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

I agree with frazzemrat1. 8 weeks and you should know for sure.

But my honest first impression is that marigold is a girl and that last picture of her on your shoulder is just adorable!

 

[AJoy16]

I agree with frazzemrat1. 8 weeks and you should know for sure.

But my honest first impression is that marigold is a girl and that last picture of her on your shoulder is just adorable!

Thank you! I had an incident that forced me to have to bathe my chicks and I got a pic of her with her wings around two other chicks to keep them warm. Her personality just made me fall in love so she got extra cuddles. Lol.

 

[AJoy16]

Thank you guys so much. The waiting game is def hard for me just because I'm afraid to really bond with chicks I wont be able to keep. I want to name them and love on them. I've got 5 black EEs and for some reason they just dont feel feminine to me so I'm worried they're all roos but I'm dying to have some gorgeous black hens. Mostly what I've got are looking brown.

 

[Chibbens104]

Thank you. I had actually read about the color sexing for EEs in some older forums here so I thought a few more people could elaborate on what I would be looking for.

I got two definte female EE's and they had a very bold stripe on their eye, ive heard the cockrels dont have this. But im just going off of what ive seen