Help sexing a young EE / It's that time again.....*sigh

[Grey Bird Farm]

Does anybody remember Prince(ss) our 1st EE that ended up a cockerel? ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213522 ) Well now I'd like to present my 2nd EE who is also ending up very masculine

Bad luck? Here's hoping that this one can stay. I don't care if she's a butch, just as long as she is a she!

This little 'chick' is about 8-9 weeks old
Easter Egger from a feed store
Sexed as a pullet by the factory in TX

We love this bird. The colors are so striking with the pure white plumage, the green legs and the muff-less/tuft-less, beard-less look.

Bracing myself for comments!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

HE's awfully pink in he comb for 5-6 weeks....sorry...

 

[ging3rhoffman]

When you get your birds at the feed store and it says pullet...they really mean 50 - 50 chance. I have bought feed store chickens and the odds of getting pullets is not good. I ordered from Meyers Hatchery and they have never messed up on the sex. I think that might be with most hatcheries but when the hatcheries send to the feed stores they are not sexed.

That looks like a beautiful EE roo to me. Keep him for your girls, they need protection and you just might want to hatch a baby chick or two in the spring.

 

[ChooksChick]

I think it's likely a roo.

That being said, I think my experience with feed store chicks isn't that the hatcheries mess up on the sexing, because often they come from the same hatcheries we use anyway, but because any old person can go pick them up and put them in the wrong bin, etc!! I watched kids mix the birds up all Spring at our store- and they generally have 15 bins going at a time, waist high, free-for-all for handling. It's best to be there when they unbox them from the mail...I try to get there early in the morning on arrival day!

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:
Some hatcheries are actually good about sexing chicks that they send to feed stores. We have NEVER gotten a male from our feed store (he says he runs about 10% roos or so in his batch from the hatcheries and). I think it is variable between honest feed stores and honest hatcheries. Unfortunately, honesty nowadays is not common.

A lady on here a while back ended up with ALL RIR roos from her feed store!

With that being said, your EE is awfully pink for 5-6 weeks olds, but what really caught my eye is that tail! In my experiences, the roos are the only ones that have tails that long at such a young age. Hopefully we are wrong and she's just a a quick developer.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Based on comb color at this young age, I'd say roo. My easter egger pullets that are 8-10 weeks old now still have yellow combs.


We have had prety good luck with our feed store sexed chicks. They say we have a 90% chance of the chicks being pullets.

Our first batch of 10 chicks -- all pullets
2nd store - 2 chicks - both pullets
1st store again - 7 chicks - 5 pullets, 2 roos (both BOs were roos)
Total: 19 chicks total - 2 roos (about 90%)

Our feed stores do not sell straight run - they only order sexed pullets. I think that helps a lot. If your local feed store has both bins of pullets & bins of straight run, you run the risk of customers (or workers) placing chicks back into the wrong bins.

 

[Grey Bird Farm]

It turns out that my EE is slightly older than I originally thought. Does anybody's opinion change with the added info that she might be more like 8-9 weeks old or is it the same?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Yes, that does make a difference. I'll change my guess from pullet to unknown.

Usually, the pullets' combs don't turn pink till after 6 weeks of age. Has this chick's comb turned pink recently? Was it still yellow a couple of weeks ago?

 

[M To The Maxx]

I think it's a roo.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
No, my EE's didn't change color until they were more than 12 weeks old (I can't remember exactly, but I know it was after they moved in with the big girls at 12 weeks).