Lav Ameraucana help sexing

[cstephens1987]

Tail of the chicken still screams roo to me. The only pullets I've seen with sickle feathers are phoenixes.

Not sure it's really sickle feathers so much as the shredder gene usually associated with lavenders. I think if that bird wasn't lav it would have a very typical young Ameraucana tail

 

[JenEgrrrL]

I thought so too, but it should be crowing by this age? Some are so hard to tell

There were 3 other (confirmed) cockerels in the flock, all about the same age. One of the 2 Marans cockerels was the dominant & started crowing at 12 weeks. There has only been a handful of times that the other 2 non-dominant cockerels have done any crowing. At this young age, all of the boys have been getting along pretty well & aren't aggressive toward the pullets yet. It could make sense that the Lav Ameraucana just didn’t have room in the pecking order yet to try out his vocal chords! I just got rid of 2 cockerels yesterday & will be rehoming the dominant cockerel any day to my BF’s rooster-less flock, so maybe that’ll open up some room for the mystery guy/gal to crow or not. I still have a 15 1/2 week old Fibro that is a big question mark for gender too!

 

[cstephens1987]

Yeah I've got a 16 week old barnevelder that started mating this week and as of yet has never crowed once. He couldn't be anymore obviously male if he tried and the older boy just stands there and watches him mate. It's very odd. Seems to care a lot more about me picking up one of his hens than the youngen trying to pull some Kung Fu copulation but w/e man, you do you.

 

[JenEgrrrL]

Not sure it's really sickle feathers so much as the shredder gene usually associated with lavenders. I think if that bird wasn't lav it would have a very typical young Ameraucana tail

@MysteryChicken & @cstephens1987 Its tail keeps stumping me back & forth! Before I got this one I wasn’t aware of the shredder gene, so I was definitely thinking cockerel once those farthest back tail feathers poked out. But they’re so scraggly, I researched & found out about the shredder feathers. So I was back to perhaps a pullet. I’ve gotten pics of a couple others from this line that were a couple weeks older & the cockerel is much more obvious & feathered out. But the pullet is much more lady-like. Mine is right in that middle “Pat” zone haha!

 

[JenEgrrrL]

Bahahaha!! Love it!

Yeah I've got a 16 week old barnevelder that started mating this week and as of yet has never crowed once. He couldn't be anymore obviously male if he tried and the older boy just stands there and watches him mate. It's very odd. Seems to care a lot more about me picking up one of his hens than the youngen trying to pull some Kung Fu copulation but w/e man, you do you.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I know, that. I was refering to the videos you've watched. I have OEGBs, & experienced early crowing from them.

I don't know what breed of chicken the chicks in the video were. It was somewhat dark, and you couldn't make out any features, other than they were light colored chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't know what breed of chicken the chicks in the video were. It was somewhat dark, and you couldn't make out any features, other than they were light colored chicks.

Okay.

 

[lomine]

All pea combs have 3 rows (or at least they should). In males the three rows usually grow much larger, making them more distinctive. In females, it's usually only the middle row that grows larger making it look like she only has one row. The comb in the first picture does have three rows but they all seem to have merged together making it look like one big one.

Thus far all of my AMs have been very slow to mature, though it's not a very large sample pool. I have never had a pullet get any sort of comb growth or reddening until right before she lays, which I want to say has been closer to 24 weeks.

My guess is that this Lav AM is a cockerel.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here's my Black EE roo.

 

[JenEgrrrL]

Ahhh you guys I’m freaking out!! Yesterday I was out of town all day getting some more chooks & my
Mom said for most of the day my Lav Am stayed in the coop. When I let everyone out this morning the Lav stayed in the coop but it took me a couple hours to notice bc I was getting all the new birds secured and acclimated. I just took him/her out when I realized & started inspecting for anything obvious. When I held it upside down for a few seconds it started basically purging clear liquid out of its mouth!! Anyone know what that might mean??