Lavender Orpington 4 Week Old Sex?

[qggradek]

Hello,
I am a new chicken owner and have a straight run of 7 Lavender Orpington Chickens. We bought seven in hopes of having at least two hens. We are almost sure that 4 are cockerels and at least one is a pullet. We are unsure of 2 but leaning towards cockerel for one and completely unsure of the other. Attached are pictures of #1 which we believe is a pullet, #2 which we are completely unsure of, and #3 which we are unsure of but are leaning towards cockerel. It will be disappointing if both #2 and #3 are cockerels because then we will only have one hen but are still hopeful. Please let me know what you think of these 3 chicks sexes.
#1
#

#2 (completely unsure)

#3 (unsure but leaning towards cockerel)

 

[ShrekDawg]

I believe 2 and 3 are cockerels unfortunately.

 

[qggradek]

I believe 2 and 3 are cockerels unfortunately.

I have that as my gut feeling as well, but #2 is developing much slower then the other 5 that we believe are cockerels. Can I ask why you are quite sure? Is it because of the waddles? In some lighting they look pale and are much smaller then all the others chicks but in other lighting it is more pinkish (like in the 3rd picture.) Thanks so much

 

[ShrekDawg]

I have that as my gut feeling as well, but #2 is developing much slower then the other 5 that we believe are cockerels. Can I ask why you are quite sure? Is it because of the waddles? In some lighting they look pale and are much smaller then all the others chicks but in other lighting it is more pinkish (like in the 3rd picture.) Thanks so much

It might still be a girl!! I would keep them all for a bit and wait to see. You should be able to tell better by around 8 weeks. Orpingtons can be so hard to tell!! I went back and forth on my Buff and Lavender for sooo long they both looked like girls for forever lol but both turned out to be boys. I hope yours turn out otherwise!!!

But yes, the wattles especially do it for me. They look especially red in the last pictures of chicks 2 and 3.

But hopefully it’s just the lighting.

 

[qggradek]

It might still be a girl!! I would keep them all for a bit and wait to see. You should be able to tell better by around 8 weeks. Orpingtons can be so hard to tell!! I went back and forth on my Buff and Lavender for sooo long they both looked like girls for forever lol but both turned out to be boys. I hope yours turn out otherwise!!!

But yes, the wattles especially do it for me. They look especially red in the last pictures of chicks 2 and 3.

But hopefully it’s just the lighting.

Yes I agree. It’s just so hard to not worry and question at 4 weeks, but I know thinks can change in the blink of an eye before 8 weeks. We definitely will not be doing anything with them until 8 weeks. I’m sorry about your two orpingtons turned roos! This photo I just took kind of shows why we are questioning the #2. It is in the back left of this picture and circled. It’s comb and wattles aren’t as pink as the rest but are visible Thanks for all your insight!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yes I agree. It’s just so hard to not worry and question at 4 weeks, but I know thinks can change in the blink of an eye before 8 weeks. We definitely will not be doing anything with them until 8 weeks. I’m sorry about your two orpingtons turned roos! This photo I just took kind of shows why we are questioning the #2. It is in the back left of this picture and circled. It’s comb and wattles aren’t as pink as the rest but are visible Thanks for all your insight! View attachment 2140967

I totally understand that!!! I was so worried I had all roosters for so long and thought “no, that just can’t be true!!” Turns out it basically was. I hatched eggs for the first time in November and literally ended up with 8 boys out of 9 chicks. various breeds but the Orps and the EE kept me guessing and going back and forth for sooo long lol

And thanks! But it actually ended up alright though because the Lav is soooo sweet and gentle and he’s gorgeous now! Still have him haha the Buff unfortunately got taken by a predator shortly after I moved them outside.

I need to get an updated pictures because he’s even prettier now, if that’s possible, and the most recent ones I have are from like 2-3 weeks ago but I’ll post some of him in a second haha

And oh wow! I definitely see what you mean here!!!

I think the two middle ones and the front left are definite boys and the two in the back definitely look more like girls now when compared to those three but still look a bit red so could be boys so who really knows! Haha pretty sure front right is a girl. Sometimes Orpingtons can be slow maturing too, my boy is, so definitely wait aha

 

[qggradek]

I totally understand that!!! I was so worried I had all roosters for so long and thought “no, that just can’t be true!!” Turns out it basically was. I hatched eggs for the first time in November and literally ended up with 8 boys out of 9 chicks. various breeds but the Orps and the EE kept me guessing and going back and forth for sooo long lol

And thanks! But it actually ended up alright though because the Lav is soooo sweet and gentle and he’s gorgeous now! Still have him haha the Buff unfortunately got taken by a predator shortly after I moved them outside.

I need to get an updated pictures because he’s even prettier now, if that’s possible, and the most recent ones I have are from like 2-3 weeks ago but I’ll post some of him in a second haha

And oh wow! I definitely see what you mean here!!!

I think the two middle ones and the front left are definite boys and the two in the back definitely look more like girls now when compared to those three but still look a bit red so could be boys so who really knows! Haha pretty sure front right is a girl. Sometimes Orpingtons can be slow maturing too, my boy is, so definitely wait aha

Yes! At first we tried feather sexing at 1 week and thought we had 5 pullets of the seven and were so excited, but then their combs started to grow in and well- here we are . Turns out I am not as good at feather sexing as I thought I would be!

We thought for sure we would get at least 2 out of the 7 but who knows. We are starting to think the person we purchased them from may have sexed the straight run and sold what he thought were males as a “straight run” but who knows.

Unfortunately we live in a suburb and our backyard is bordered by neighbors on all sides very closely. We believe would have some upset neighbors if we kept a crowing rooster or two (in addition to our loud barking dogs) so we have decided that we will find homes for the chicks turned roos after 8 or 9 weeks.

I am sorry about your buff taken by the predator I would love to see a picture of your lav!

 

[ShrekDawg]

This is my sweet boy. My Jack. and his girlfriend Wilma.

He’s scared of the big girls still.

He’s 6 months old.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yes! At first we tried feather sexing at 1 week and thought we had 5 pullets of the seven and were so excited, but then their combs started to grow in and well- here we are . Turns out I am not as good at feather sexing as I thought I would be!

We thought for sure we would get at least 2 out of the 7 but who knows. We are starting to think the person we purchased them from may have sexed the straight run and sold what he thought were males as a “straight run” but who knows.

Unfortunately we live in a suburb and our backyard is bordered by neighbors on all sides very closely. We believe would have some upset neighbors if we kept a crowing rooster or two (in addition to our loud barking dogs) so we have decided that we will find homes for the chicks turned roos after 8 or 9 weeks.

I am sorry about your buff taken by the predator I would love to see a picture of your lav!

It’s hard to do!! Vent sexing too! I could never do it lol but that’s what happened to me too!! Like 4 of them looked like girls for so long so I was super excited then when they started looking like boys I’m like well at least 2 have to be! I thought for sure I’d have 2-4 females which would have been fine but NOPE. One. LOL

That could be!! Sadly some people do that. I’ve heard TSC does too. They put the males in the straight run bin.

Oh boy! Definitely don’t want roosters then.

We have 2.5 acres and are set back kind of in the woods but we have close neighbors right behind us but thankfully Jack doesn’t even crow yet. the others I had crowed sooooo much. Especially two of them lol they would start super early and one crowed all day and/or for half hour to an hour at a time. was glad to be rid of those ones lol

And thank you!! It was sad. I’ve had a lot of losses lately. but love the ones I have now. and just posted some pics of him!

 

[qggradek]

This is my sweet boy. My Jack. and his girlfriend Wilma.

He’s scared of the big girls still.

He’s 6 months old.

View attachment 2141021View attachment 2141022View attachment 2141024View attachment 2141025View attachment 2141026View attachment 2141027View attachment 2141028

He is gorgeous!!! His tail feathers are so pretty.

And yes we definitely will not be able to keep the roosters sadly

I will update in a few weeks with more pictures and hopefully it will be clearer then I hope your chickens stay in good health! Thanks for all your help