Gender help PLEASE!!!

[Free2BMe2798]

I have just hatched a batch of Araucana x Leghorn cross chicks 10 days ago. They all were yellow with some black spots when they hatched and are now feathering in white. My rooster has a nice pea combs and the chicks have the expected pea combs,

single combs, and every weird mixture in between. I had read that you can sort of tell cockerels from pullets by how fast their tail feathers appear with the girl's feathers coming in faster than the boys, but two of my fastest feathering chicks now have huge combs that are really red.

Is this a fluke because they are crosses? Or are these the boys?

 

[Wyandottes7]

The rate at which chicks grow feathers is not an accurate indicator. Comb size and reddness, and pointy hackle and saddle feathers are better indicators. I'd say that, if you're seeing red combs at only ten days old, those birds with the red combs are most likely males.

 

[CowGrrrl]

The birds with the reddest combs are roosters.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The one thing you should be able to guess is whether or not the crosses will lay blue eggs--you have like a 90% chance of the blue egg gene with the true pea combs, a lesser chance with the modified peas, and almost no chance at all with the straight combed birds.

I agree with Wyandottes, there's no real way to tell sex by tail growth. Yes, you often get slow-feathering cockerels, but it's not something you can rely on as an indicator.

 

[ramirezframing]

When using a true araucana in a cross, not all the chicks will have tails, another reason not to go by tail growth rate

 

[Free2BMe2798]

Thank you all. I did use a pure bred double tuffed Araucana rooster in this cross. I was looking for a way to sex them as early as possible as I am only interested in the female chicks and will be culling all of the cockerels.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I've done leghorn X Ameraucana crosses and a good percentage of the boys very often seem to take after the leghorn side of the family and get big red combs really early. Not all the males do, but pretty much all chicks that were that far ahead of the hatch mates turned out to be a male.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thank you all. I did use a pure bred double tuffed Araucana rooster in this cross. I was looking for a way to sex them as early as possible as I am only interested in the female chicks and will be culling all of the cockerels.

The one that's in the middle of the photo you posted, with the pink comb, is a cockerel for sure! You won't find a bright pink comb on a pullet that young, even if they are Leghorn crosses. I set a bunch of white eggs this year, and they were crossed with an Ameraucana, a Marans, and a RIR. It was actually pretty easy to sex them all by five weeks or so. I think if you wait a bit, it will become clearer.