Light Brahma hen or roo?

[Buckbuckbuckbarkkkkk]

This light Brahma was sold to me as a pullet. I’m now getting a bit worried it may infact be a rooster!!
Can anyone confirm? It’s about 12 weeks old

 

[AinaWGSD]

This one may need more time. Right now nothing screams cockerel to me, but I can't rule out slow developing male either.

I've seen plenty of pullets with combs that pink at 12 weeks, but brahma are usually slow to mature. The comb is incorrect type (brahma have pea combs) but not overly large for a single comb. And I don't see any male specific saddle feathers coming in. Although at 12 weeks a slow developing cockerel might not have male specific feathers yet.

 

[CCsGarden]

Looks like a female. My light Brahmas matured very fast.

 

[CCsGarden]

This one may need more time. Right now nothing screams cockerel to me, but I can't rule out slow developing male either.

I've seen plenty of pullets with combs that pink at 12 weeks, but brahma are usually slow to mature. The comb is incorrect type (brahma have pea combs) but not overly large for a single comb. And I don't see any male specific saddle feathers coming in. Although at 12 weeks a slow developing cockerel might not have male specific feathers yet.

Your are correct about the comb! They should have pea combs.

 

[Buckbuckbuckbarkkkkk]

This one may need more time. Right now nothing screams cockerel to me, but I can't rule out slow developing male either.

I've seen plenty of pullets with combs that pink at 12 weeks, but brahma are usually slow to mature. The comb is incorrect type (brahma have pea combs) but not overly large for a single comb. And I don't see any male specific saddle feathers coming in. Although at 12 weeks a slow developing cockerel might not have male specific feathers yet.

Thanks for your reply.
I noticed it had a single comb as well. Does this mean it isn’t infact a pure Brahma? I was hoping to put together a light Brahma breeding pen. Does the comb make this bird unsuitable? Or if it’s crossed back with a suitable comb type will the offspring all have the correct comb? (Sorry not sure at all on comb genetics)

 

[AinaWGSD]

Thanks for your reply.
I noticed it had a single comb as well. Does this mean it isn’t infact a pure Brahma? I was hoping to put together a light Brahma breeding pen. Does the comb make this bird unsuitable? Or if it’s crossed back with a suitable comb type will the offspring all have the correct comb? (Sorry not sure at all on comb genetics)

It doesn't necessarily mean it's not "pure" but it is an undesirable trait and one that could be tricky to get rid of down the line.

Single combs are recessive, a bird needs two copies of the single comb gene to have a single comb. Since pea combs are dominant, breeding this bird to a pea combed bird will produce 100% chicks that have 1 copy of the single comb gene. If you breed those chicks to a pea combed bird then you will get 100% pea comb, bit 50% of those chicks will inherit 1 copy of the single comb gene.if you breed one of those birds to a single combed bird then there's a 50/50 chance of the offspring having single combs. Since recessive genes are hidden by dominant genes they can be passed on for generations before two birds with the same recessive gene are paired up.

Does that make it unusable for breeding? Not necessarily. It would be easiest to not use this bird and use one that has the correct comb type. But sometimes there are good reasons for using a single combed bird. Introducing new colors, for example, would be a valid reason. Not having access to better birds is another. It will take longer to get there, but you can still (eventually) get show quality birds with a single comb in the starter flock. And if you're not breeding to standard of perfection then you don't necessarily need to worry about whether it has the correct comb type unless you want to.