Is this Delaware really a hen?

[speckledhen]

I'm holding on to hope lol, I have someone giving me a spangled Russian Orloff roo, which was kinda my inspiration for getting the chicks when I did so if she turns out a he I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. I've become attached to the Dely since I hand feed her every morning but I knew the instant I saw the picture of the Orloff roo that I wanted him watching over my hens.

The simple truth is that some are easy to sex and some make you guess a couple of weeks longer. Within two weeks, you'll know.

 

[EggieRowe]

That's tough! I'd say give it another week to be sure. I'm trying to find baby pictures of the two Del hens I got from McMurray a few years back.

 

[EggieRowe]

This is my latest batch of chicks at 5 weeks. Two boys are obvious - red combs & real smutty on backs between shoulders. There's a 3rd boy in there who was mostly white like the girls, so I could only tell by comb color.

 

[Beastie]

:/I'm not seeing any pictures.

 

[EggieRowe]

This was the picture my phone wouldn't let me upload. Two of the boys are 12 o'clock from the waterer.

 

[Beastie]

Two of them definitely have a lot of smut/speckling between the shoulders a few of them have lighter speckling that looks much more similar to my chick. Are those ones female or are you unsure of their sex? Also can anyone tell me how soon the "barred tail feathers" start showing up? The tail feathers that my chick has coming in look like they will be barred but I don't know how soon you can tell the difference. Also I got some better more recent pictures, I'll post them later.

 

[speckledhen]

Two of them definitely have a lot of smut/speckling between the shoulders a few of them have lighter speckling that looks much more similar to my chick. Are those ones female or are you unsure of their sex? Also can anyone tell me how soon the "barred tail feathers" start showing up? The tail feathers that my chick has coming in look like they will be barred but I don't know how soon you can tell the difference. Also I got some better more recent pictures, I'll post them later.

Some pullets initially have barring in the tail feathers which later molts out. I've had many 12-13 week old Dellie pullets with barred tail feathers who later developed proper tail black.

The tail feathers will be barred from the beginning, though the baby tail feathers of the males may be less distinctly barred at first, but those smutty feathers will molt out in favor of the older juvenile tail feathers. Will post pics of mine if I can locate them.

 

[speckledhen]

For example, here is 9 week old pullet's tail. Not all are like this, but they sure can be.



Then, at 13 weeks.


Then, Gracie looked like this at 14 weeks old:


Then at 17 weeks, you can tell she molted out the barred feathers:



Then, later, though her tail set is a tad pinched, you can see her tail black coming in as it should. I can't show pictures of her now because she was sold as a layer to someone locally.

 

[Beastie]

That makes me feel significantly better lol. When do females combs start to turn pink? My chick's comb is starting to look pink but is definitely not really red like the 6week old cockrel you posted.

 

[Beastie]

Also thanks you all for humoring me and my lunacy!