Male or Female?

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going to keep them for a couple more months just to be sure they are all cockerels

Every one that has long, narrow saddle feathers with pointy ends is a cockerel. (The saddle feathers grow on the back, in front of the tail, and hang down on both sides of the tail.) Cockerels also grow feathers like that in their hackles (around the base of the neck.)

I am pretty sure I see male saddle & hackle feathers on every chicken in your most recent photos.

A female chicken NEVER has that kind of long, narrow, pointy saddle and hackle feathers unless she has a major hormone problem (which is rare, prevents her from laying eggs, and can cause her to act like a rooster as well as looking like one.)


Also, all the chickens in your recent photos have combs & wattles that are the same color and similar in size. That means they are all the same gender as each other. Since some are crowing, that gender is male. If there was a female, her comb and wattles would be much smaller and more pale in color. By this age, the difference would be very obvious.

Of course you can keep them as long as you want, but I am very confident they are all males. (I know it's much easier to be sure of gender when you have both males and females, because that makes the differences so much more obvious. I regularly have trouble sexing chicks if they are all one gender, but not when there are some of each.)
 
Every one that has long, narrow saddle feathers with pointy ends is a cockerel. (The saddle feathers grow on the back, in front of the tail, and hang down on both sides of the tail.) Cockerels also grow feathers like that in their hackles (around the base of the neck.)

I am pretty sure I see male saddle & hackle feathers on every chicken in your most recent photos.

A female chicken NEVER has that kind of long, narrow, pointy saddle and hackle feathers unless she has a major hormone problem (which is rare, prevents her from laying eggs, and can cause her to act like a rooster as well as looking like one.)


Also, all the chickens in your recent photos have combs & wattles that are the same color and similar in size. That means they are all the same gender as each other. Since some are crowing, that gender is male. If there was a female, her comb and wattles would be much smaller and more pale in color. By this age, the difference would be very obvious.

Of course you can keep them as long as you want, but I am very confident they are all males. (I know it's much easier to be sure of gender when you have both males and females, because that makes the differences so much more obvious. I regularly have trouble sexing chicks if they are all one gender, but not when there are some of each.)
Thankyou for your help and advice 🙂 I was thinking the same, they must all be the same gender. This was what made me question the chances of them being all male, but judging my their feathers and the fact 2 can crow, they must be all males. What are the chances!🤣
 
Update at 14 Weeks
2 regularly make crowing noises but still nothing from the others
Some crow earlier then others. Some may never crow because they’re not the alpha roo. They all have bigger combs already then hens are supposed to have by the time their full grown. They are all definitely cockerels.
 
Some very sad news today, came down to see that a fox has broke into the coop and had all 5 of the chickens! Absolutely gutted. Was about to reinforce the coop in coming weeks, but left it too late. Completely my fault but such a shame 😢
 
Some very sad news today, came down to see that a fox has broke into the coop and had all 5 of the chickens! Absolutely gutted. Was about to reinforce the coop in coming weeks, but left it too late. Completely my fault but such a shame 😢
I understand, since something similar just happened to me. I'm going to have to clean things up, fix what's wrong and start over in the spring.
 
I’m starting over very soon. It really is a shame. Not sure if I’m going to start from young again though, just want some layers now. I’m 99% sure I had 5 cockerels anyway.
due to extenuating circumstances, I have to wait till spring. I have to rebuild a house first, and then look into the holes in the defenses at the chicken coop and start over.
 

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