How can you tell a female from a male Americana?

[nharbison0722]

Hi everyone! Hope all is well! I have two 7 week old Americanas. How do you tell a female from a male? Both are all brownish red. One has a fluffier neck. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Neil

 

[Snickerdoodle]

Well, in about 10-13 weeks, one will be crowing and the other will be laying eggs.

But seriously, working under the assumption that americana = easter egger, I can tell you that the males will be more colorful. They tend to have have reddish patches on their wings and just be more pretty to look at. Very striking. The ladies tend to be kind of plain looking. They feather in partridge, brownish, white-ish, solid colors, or a main color with some accents. The chickens in my profile pic are a pair of "americanas," which are really just Easter Eggers that were sold under a fancy/fake name despite being aracauna/ameraucans mixes.

Posting pictures for us to look at would help

 

[nharbison0722]

Thanks Snickerdoodle.....

Yeah, Im trying to get photos uploaded soon. I was concerned about one of their necks (the feathers around the head and neck) of one of them being bushier-more full than the other. Wondering if that was an indication?
Thanks

 

[Snickerdoodle]

Not likely. Again, I'm working under the assumption that Americana = Easter Egger. They're kind of a mixed bag of genetics, so some have fluffier cheeks, some have fluffier beards, some have no fluff at all! My EE hen has a bigger, bushier beard than my EE roo does.

Can you notice a size or significant color difference in their combs? If one is a male, it should be noticeably bigger or darker by now. Doesn't help much if they're both males though

From the brief color description, it sounds like they're both girls, but it's really hard to tell without pics.

 

[nharbison0722]

Not likely. Again, I'm working under the assumption that Americana = Easter Egger. They're kind of a mixed bag of genetics, so some have fluffier cheeks, some have fluffier beards, some have no fluff at all! My EE hen has a bigger, bushier beard than my EE roo does.

Can you notice a size or significant color difference in their combs? If one is a male, it should be noticeably bigger or darker by now. Doesn't help much if they're both males though

Nope, both look the exact same, with the exception of the one with the fluffier neck lol. They were supposed to be pullets, so I hope thats the case!
Thanks again!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s not always easy to tell sex of chicks, even at seven weeks. Sometimes the sex will jump out at you by 4 to 5 weeks, but with some it takes a lot longer. The first post in this thread gives you several things that are clues, but many times that’s all they are, clues. And many times there can be conflicting clues. It can get frustrating.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/48329/secondary-sex-characteristics

If you can post photos of the chicks showing the head so we can see the comb and wattles, size and color, that will help. Another photo showing the body posture and the legs can really help too. At seven weeks the legs are usually a really important clue to me.