Educated guesses please..... he/she/it?

[Dustin Biery]

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Just out of curiosity, what plumage colors are primarily female for EE?

She is displaying a wild-type plumage (nearly a duckwing pattern) and the males would have much more black on them

 

[Whirlwind]

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I hope you got that backwards. You can see some of the colors of my girls here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=260338

 

[Dustin Biery]

Yeah, thats backwards. Males have the more distict ridges on their combs (typically)

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

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I hope you got that backwards. You can see some of the colors of my girls here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=260338

More boys than girls have the 3 distinct lines, but I do have a couple pullets with a 3 ridge pea comb. Cockerel combs are a lot redder & wider than the pullets' combs.


Here's a couple of examples of EE pullets with different type of pea combs:

This is one of mine that had a 3 row comb - she's about 7 weeks old here - it's hard to see the ridges in the photo, but even at that age, I was able to count the 3 distinct rows (I had even posted asking if she was a cockerel because of her comb and large body size)

Same pullet right about the time she started laying at about 22 weeks of age (you can see the three ridges clearly in this photo)

Same pullet again a month or two later.

This one was raised along with the other one - she has a straight (single line) pea comb and is about 7 weeks old here

same chick as above at about 22-23 weeks of age

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

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Agreed.

 

[cthrash1]

In EEs there may not be any variation of color from male to female only difference may be saddle feathers... Remember EEs don't breed true and are Aras and Ams mixed with anything so a male can be colored the same as a female other than saddle feathers being included so it is still too hard to tell gender when that young. You can try to go by the comb but again EEs combs can come in all shapes and sizes, I have an EE pullet that has had a larger 3 ridge red comb and red face and since I got her at around 3-4 months old... She now lays beautiful blue eggs daily at 8-9 months old. I would give it more time... At least wait til it is around 3-4 months then post again.

 

[DTchickens]

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EE's are mixes and may be any color, that is the truth.. But colors exist no matter what breed it is, which is why we have silver duckwing old english, phoenix, etc. Most colors look different between male and females, some more than others. Most of the duckwing patterns, like BBred, Silver duckwing, etc. Are easily identified.

The only way for that to be a male and possess that coloration would mean it was hen feathered.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Yes, there are some colors of EEs that can be male or female, but with the hatchery EEs, there are also some patterns that are specific to gender.

EEs from the hatcheries are not just ameraucanas bred with anything - they are easter eggers bred to each other. I'm sure they originally came from araucanas or ameraucanas, but I really doubt the hatcheries carry pure ameraucanas and breed them with other breeds to make their EEs.

Even though the combs vary in type quite a bit, you should still be able to tell the cockerels from the pullets by about 2 months of age (if not sooner).

 

[KDbeads]

Lucky for me..... this is not a hatchery bird. She's the only one of 10 shipped EE eggs that survived my first incubation attempt.

Well for now I'll keep calling it a girl and cross fingers, thanks everyone!

 

[Chris09]

Just like DT and Dustin said that is a hen...

Chris