how can you tell the sex without much doubt

[willowtreecreek]

I have 17 12-week old birds and I would like to "get-rid" of the males before their meat gets too tough. There are two that have shown definite signs of being males but the rest I am not sure. I hatched them from my own eggs so I will likely have more males. They all look very similar so I cant really do the whole "Guess the sex by the photo" game. Is there any way I can tell by picking them up and looking at them? I have looked in books and online and cant find any tips. I really dont want to wait until I have 10 crowing birds to know whether or not they are males. Any advice?

 

[banjoejoe4783]

by that age the roos will have sinny pointed sadel feathers if they have them it 100% roo this is a garentee way to tell roos exeped on seabrights which are hen feathered just look on ther back by there tail if you see feathers that are shinny skinny and pointed is a roo hope this helps

 

[willowtreecreek]

Okay thanks. They are buff orpingtons. I looked for the feather but there is one who looks to be a HEN but I have seen her/it? sparring with another chicken like roosters do.

 

[banjoejoe4783]

hen also spar to astaplsh the pecking order

on buff orfs the sadles well be easy to tell they are the bright sinny blond feathers on there back close to the tell

 

[pdsavage]

here see what they say about this 13 week old buff orpington
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=372442&p=1

 

[NYREDS]

how can you tell the sex without much doubt

Wait 6 months. If they lay eggs they're pullets, if they crow they're cockerels. Sorry-couldn't resist.