How young can a EE's sex be determined

[atherzog]

I have two pet Leghorns (brown + white) and was planning on getting one or two Easter eggers (also as pets). I would like to raise them from chicks with our kids but we do not want a rooster and sending a newly discovered rooster to "The Colonel" would be too tramatic for the kids.
How early can the sex be determined?

 

[hdowden]

really depends on what the mix is some can be sexed early on around 6 weeks while others take longer and even then its not for sure since they are mixes. now whites can be sexed by their color at a certain age (dont really know what age), the cockerels will get a deep mahogany red on their shoulders (for the most part that always indicants a cockerel on ee's). they cant be sexed as day old chicks as far as i know.

 

[debid]

If you buy sexed pullets, they'll most likely be female. Aside from relying on professional vent sexing, you'd have to wait until they were mostly feathered and then the patterned ones can be quite obvious. Solid colors are a whole lot more difficult unless (as the PP mentioned) they develop dark red patches. I didn't have any of mine keep me guessing past 4 weeks but I've seen a few that were really tricky so there isn't a definite age, only definite individual cases.

 

[Georgia Nana]

After reading this post, I am confused. I ordered 6 EE pullets from Ideal. They are now 14 weeks old and are finishing their moult. Can anyone help sex?

 

[CarolJ]

They all look like pullets to me.

 

[donrae]

OP--whenever you get day old chicks, you need to let your kids know if one turns out to be a roo, it's gotta go. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for, and although we want to protect them from everything, having to get rid of a chicken ranks pretty low on the trauma rating. Buy day-old sexed pullets and hope for the best.

Georgia Nana, those are all pullets.

 

[mother o' chicks72]

OP--whenever you get day old chicks, you need to let your kids know if one turns out to be a roo, it's gotta go. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for, and although we want to protect them from everything, having to get rid of a chicken ranks pretty low on the trauma rating. Buy day-old sexed pullets and hope for the best.

Georgia Nana, those are all pullets.

As I am a teenager/kid myself I must say this is untrue, my little brother, my sister and I all found that having to get rid of roos is very sad, not traumatic but it's basically saying 'even though this pet is your new best friend and you love it and it's totally healthy we have to get rid of it. Not to mention, if we don't find it a home it will probably be eaten.' yeah, it's not fun, not traumatic but it definitely will make your kids unhappy, especially considering the roos are often family favorites.

 

[debid]

I'd say the OP knows his/her kids best. I can say that my kids would be completely fine with our rooster having to move to a new home (even though they named him and they like him) as long as they understood the reasoning. My mom recently processed her rooster because he was always aggressive and finally became intolerably mean to both human and hen. My kids were fine with that, too. But, I would not presume that their outlook is universal. Different kids, different personalities.

If it's absolutely crucial that you not get a rooster, the surest bet is to buy pullets that have started to lay.

 

[atherzog]

Thanks for all the input.
The kids could take it we had to give away a male but I'd like to avoid it if possible (remember these are pets)
I just thought chicks would be more fun for them (me). BTW one poster (HDOWDEN) mentioned professional vent sexting. How much and how available is this service? I've dropped way more than the $5 we spent for the first chickens on pets before so a little premium would be fine.
Thanks,

 

[debid]

Vent sexers are few and far-between. If you live in an area with a big hatchery, you might be able to find someone locally with the skill. It would be much more cost-effective to buy sexed pullet chicks from that hatchery, though. Professional vent-sexing accuracy runs somewhere around 90%. Or, find someone selling EE chicks that have feathered out and read the entire color sexing EEs thread. Then choose only the obviously female ones and you'll do just fine. ;-)