Educated gender guesses?

[jamie158]

Hello BYC people!
I'm totally new to the chicken world, but I'm loving it so much thus far!
I'm wondering if any of you could give me any educated guesses on whether or not I've ended up with any boys in my first little flock.

I have 1 Australorp, 1 Orpington, 1 Dominique, and 1 Welsummer. They are supposedly turning 4 weeks in 2 days. I realize that this is still very early, but I've been obsessively worrying that I might have to give 1... or more up, so any peace of mind is appreciated.

Here are my (hopefully) girls:


Opal the Orpington. She's definitely the sweetest. *please be a little lady!*


Ruby the Welsummer. She's the most timid.


Emma the Australorp. She's a little spitfire. She's growing & feathering out much slower than the rest, which has me worried. She was always smaller than the others, but she didn't seem to grow much at all for a long time. She's still behind the rest in feathering out.


Lilly the Dominique. She's also pretty calm and sweet. She seems to be growing the fastest.


Again, I know it's early and these probably aren't the best pictures... but any guesses are appreciated.

Thank you tons!

 

[ladycat]

Hard to tell, but I think the Welsumer might be a boy.

 

[jamie158]

Hard to tell, but I think the Welsumer might be a boy.

Thank you. May not be the best news, but it's much better than hearing, "they're all definitely boys!"

 

[ashtree]

Hard to tell, but I think the Welsumer might be a boy.

X2

 

[jamie158]

I have to post one more picture of her now...

I've heard that Welsummer's are pretty easy to sex based on coloring. I'm going to have to do a lot more reading up on this.
Thank you so much for your responses.

 

[Veer67]

I'm not sure about them, but for now I am going with pullet for the Welsummer because I'm not seeing any dark or black feathers on her breast, and the comb is also still yellow. I would say pullet for the Australorp. These are just guesses, in a few weeks you should be able to tell.

 

[Basskids08]

I'm not sure about them, but for now I am going with pullet for the Welsummer because I'm not seeing any dark or black feathers on her breast, and the comb is also still yellow. I would say pullet for the Australorp. These are just guesses, in a few weeks you should be able to tell.

x 2 about 6-8 weeks you should know!

Unless it's a white EE who won't decide what it is, like mine!

 

[jamie158]

I'm not sure about them, but for now I am going with pullet for the Welsummer because I'm not seeing any dark or black feathers on her breast, and the comb is also still yellow. I would say pullet for the Australorp. These are just guesses, in a few weeks you should be able to tell.

I don't see much black in her coloring at all... but the fact that her comb is growing quicker than the others threw me off...
Like I said, I really am a total newbie. Trying to do as much research as I can before I ask questions, but tonight I felt like I finally needed to ask. Thanks!

 

[donrae]

from straight down I-5!

And here I am, thinking the Wellie and the Dominique are the ones you can say are pullets with confidence at this age due to their coloring

Welsummer cockerels feather in black on the breast. Pullets are this salmon/reddish color. She's female.

Dominiques follow the rule for barred birds. Pullets are darker, cockerels are lighter. She's dark, she's a female.

The Aussie is young yet, but usually there's some sign of a cockerel around this age. Give it 2 more weeks, then relax.

The Orpington is the only one it may take longer to be confident on. I'm sure not seeing anything saying rooster now, but it's slower to feather and Orps can be slow to mature, sometimes a boy sneaks up on you.

 

[jamie158]

from straight down I-5!

And here I am, thinking the Wellie and the Dominique are the ones you can say are pullets with confidence at this age due to their coloring

Welsummer cockerels feather in black on the breast. Pullets are this salmon/reddish color. She's female.

Dominiques follow the rule for barred birds. Pullets are darker, cockerels are lighter. She's dark, she's a female.

The Aussie is young yet, but usually there's some sign of a cockerel around this age. Give it 2 more weeks, then relax.

The Orpington is the only one it may take longer to be confident on. I'm sure not seeing anything saying rooster now, but it's slower to feather and Orps can be slow to mature, sometimes a boy sneaks up on you.

Donrae,

Thanks for the welcome, and it's great to find a neighbor on here!

What great insight/information! I really do hope that my Orpington is female.
Back when I first brought them home, I knew that I had to come to terms with the fact that one/some of them may have to go, but Opal (the orp) is the one that I've really bonded with... in a pet kind of way. She's also the one that I felt most confident was female, but maybe that's just because her breed does take longer to sex (mixed with some wishful thinking.)

If I'm still feeling unsure in 3 or so weeks... I just might have to ask again.

BYC has been so helpful over the past month or so, thanks to all of you.

If anyone else has any opinions, I'd love to hear them.