IS MARIA REALLY MANUEL?

[thechickenkeeper]

Hi there , the more I look at Maria, our Minorca ‘hen’, the more I think she looks like a rooster, however I’ve not had this breed before and so it’s hard to tell, others have commented on her sexuality before from a photo I posted.

She has got rather long in the leg and doesn’t seem to have much weight about her, and they are a heavy bird, yet she is still young, (4months old) so it could just be that she hasn’t put the weight on yet, she/he does tend to frame up alot to the other chicks, but then runs a mile if the bigger girls come any where near, not to mention the very entertaining butterfly incident, scared of a butterfly, not roosters surely.

Is there anyone can tell me a way to define it for sure?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Pictures always help.

 

[sara]

Pictures would be good.

Minorca's aren't really a heavy breed. I only have experience with hatchery ones, and they were light , and completely crazy. They get big combs, so you are going to have to look for saddle feathers.

 

[jossanne]

Here's a pic of my minorca cockerel at 12 weeks old, for you to compare. He started off so sweet, then got mean mean mean, and attacked my 2yo niece every time he saw her. He went to rooster heaven...

He sure was a pretty thing!

Here he is at 16wks:

 

[jossanne]

And here's one of my 4mo minorca pullets, on the far right of this pic. Sorry I don't have a more close-up one of her. She's now 6mos, and laying beautiful eggs!

 

[thechickenkeeper]

Quote:
thats interesting josanne, the white bits are nowhere near as big as the one in your pics, maybe she/he is younger than i thought, but with out seeing the tail of your hen, i must say Maria is looking more like your rooster than your hen, errmmm????????????

buggar, we cant keep roosters by law. Urban keepers. doh!!!

 

[jossanne]

I found a 4mo picture of my girl who I think is a black andalusian. She is the same shape and size as the girls who I am pretty sure are black minorcas. The only difference I see between her and my minorcas is that her earlobe is not as white. It's like it's coated in a thin layer of black spraypaint. The only reason I think she's an andalusian is that she came in an order of rainbow layers that included a blue andalusian, and no other black girls. They often clump same breeds in rainbow layers orders, so I think she's an andalusian.

Here she is at 7mos:

 

[jossanne]

And if yours is a cockerel, you should definitely start seeing pointy saddle feathers by now. They mature pretty quickly.