Little boy or girl serama?

[chuckachucka]

Oh goodness, even with the behaviour I mentioned would you say girl? It seems odd that he (or she) does that thing roosters and mother hens do with food when he finds something good. Not sure who he thinks is listening though! None of the other chickens seem interested when he does it. Maybe he's just copying his mother's behaviour...and is in fact a she!

There are no signs of any pointy feathers yet and believe me I have looked. This is the first chick that has confused me so much, although I do have a Pekin pullet who, at six months, hasn't started laying and has crowed a few times. She's got me thinking too.

That's great you can finally be sure. She's certainly a pretty little one, lovely colour.

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh goodness, even with the behaviour I mentioned would you say girl? It seems odd that he (or she) does that thing roosters and mother hens do with food when he finds something good. Not sure who he thinks is listening though! None of the other chickens seem interested when he does it. Maybe he's just copying his mother's behaviour...and is in fact a she!

There are no signs of any pointy feathers yet and believe me I have looked. This is the first chick that has confused me so much, although I do have a Pekin pullet who, at six months, hasn't started laying and has crowed a few times. She's got me thinking too.

That's great you can finally be sure. She's certainly a pretty little one, lovely colour.

Just kind of a gut feeling on yours, since the conflicting signs have us guessing so much. I normally tend to lean toward male, and then I'm happily surprised when it turns out to be female.

How many and what ages/genders do you have together with the one in question?? Flock dynamics can play a part on how fast or slow they mature too.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

And so it continues...

8 and a half weeks old and Custard the serama still has a very small, very red comb (doesn't always show in photos), and virtually no wattle growth.

The thing is, behaviourally, he has always seemed male to me. He and my older cockerel are always the ones making the alert noises when a bird flies overhead or a door slams etc, whilst the hens just look around for the danger. Plus last week I noticed Custard doing the 'come and get it!' routine that roosters and mother hens do when they find a tasty morsel, which I guess is him practising his big boy roo behaviour.

Except...why is his comb still so small? I've seen photos of male seramas with bigger combs and wattles at four to five weeks old. He seems very small in general. I know seramas are tiny but how tall/heavy should they be at eight weeks? I'm starting to worry Custard has stunted development or something!

I'm still thinking pullet, but that comb keeps me guessing...

 

[chuckachucka]

Gah! I'm stumped then.

@WVduckchick I have two older hens, two six month old pullets and a six month old cockerel. the cockerel developed really fast and is very good at his job, and I've heard of younger roosters developing much more slowly if there is a dominant rooster. So that could explain it.

 

[chuckachucka]

Update:
Ten weeks old. I'm starting to seriously consider DNA sexing...

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh no, definitely pretty little pullet!

 

[chuckachucka]

How definite is definite? I don't want to get my hopes up because the little guy/girl has started following me around and sleeping on my lap and I reeeeeeeeally want it to be a pullet so I can keep her.

 

[WVduckchick]

I don't see any male traits on her yet at all. So if she were in my flock, I'd be 100% sure. But with seramas, and flock dynamics, I guess there is always the possibility of late bloomers. Looking at her coloring, hackles, lack of sickles, I'm pretty confident.

 

[chuckachucka]

Yay! I'm going to start calling her a she then. I don't think I can stop second guessing it until I see an egg (or hear a crow) but I'm hopeful for girl now. She's the sweetest little chicken I've ever had. Thanks for your replies!

 

[WVduckchick]

I sure hope I'm right too! I'd feel awful if she turns out to be male..