Help!!! Please tell me my daughter’s favorite chick isn’t a roo

[Modie]

Hey everyone!! These babies are about 8 weeks old, and have much more comb development than the others! Do I have two cockerels?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

I'm sorry, but yes, those are cockerels.

 

[ellie62706]

Oh boy! Good luck with that!

 

[Gray Farms]

Wyandotte is a pullet for sure "cockerels have a different pattern". I really think the Lav Orp is a pullet as well.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Wyandotte is a pullet for sure "cockerels have a different pattern". I really think the Lav Orp is a pullet as well.

Why would pullets have red combs like that....?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

You will know for sure at 12 weeks, when saddle feathers come in. Males will have pointy, females are rounded.

 

[PirateGirl]

So far I think both look like pullets. As they get closer to laying their combs will get even bigger and redder, but there aren't signs of cockerel feathering on either yet.

 

[Gray Farms]

Why would pullets have red combs like that....?

Personally I think they are older than 8 weeks myself. Also redness of comb isn't always accurate in young birds. A rush of excitement or a hormone swing can cause redness. Feathering in laced birds makes them very easy to sex when they feather fully. Cockerels have solid colored wing bars "feathers with no lacing". Pullets don't have this no matter the breed.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Personally I think they are older than 8 weeks myself. Also redness of comb isn't always accurate in young birds. A rush of excitement or a hormone swing can cause redness. Feathering in laced birds makes them very easy to sex when they feather fully. Cockerels have solid colored wing bars "feathers with no lacing". Pullets don't have this no matter the breed.

Okay. Thanks!
I still think the Orpington is a boy... But time will tell.

 

[aquila]

I've had a couple of silver laced wyandotte pullets in both of my batches that reddened up sooner than the others. I don't think those look like male feathers would at that point either. That one at least looks like a pullet to me.