Leghorn Pullets and/or Roosters

[Rosechuk]

Hey all,

I bought 5 leghorn "pullets" from a guy on craigslist to replace some hens that got eaten by a neighbors dog :-(

They are 3-4 months old. 2 of them have big ol' floppy combs and 3 have very small combs that are just coming in. Is it a sure thing that the big floppy combs are roosters, or do I need to wait and see?

Thanks for your help. I can post pictures if that helps.

 

[gryeyes]

Lady leghorns have impressive combs which DO flop over, but they are still smaller than the combs on gentlemen leghorns.

Wait a while.

 

[farmerChef]

pictures always help. Rooster's combs get big, but they are not supposed to flop over like the hen's combs.
Here's a pic of my mottled anconas(similar to leghorns)
rooster in the middle

pullet in the back

 

[featherz]

Lady leghorns as said above usually have floppy big combs. Here's one of my girls, although it's a bad example because you can still see her eyes.

 

[Rosechuk]

I guess I assumed that the the combs and wattles would all develop at the same time on these birds so the ones that are already big and developed would be roosters. They are definitely floppy though and not upright like your cool looking ancona!

Featherz–out of curiosity, what do you mean about you picture being a bad example because you can still see the eye?

I will post some pictures later, just for the fun of it.

Thanks for the education!

 

[featherz]

Quote:
Because usually my leghorn combs flop over their entire faces, making it a better example - all you can see is the beak. This one is a little perkier.

 

[sourland]

You need to wait and see. Just as with all species, some pullets mature more rapidly than others. On leghorns floppy combs almost always indicates pullets/hens. If not laying now, those two should start shortly.

 

[Rosechuk]

Yeah, the combs are definitely floppy. Thanks as usual to everyone for the advice!