Midnight Majesty Maran sex?

[Shabib1]

I have 5 of these Midnight Majesty Marans and they were supposed to all be pullets. After doing some research, I see that the barred ones are male. All of mine are somewhat barred so I’m curious if the hatchery made a mistake? They are 9 weeks old this week. Thank you for any feedback!

 

[AllKindaOCluckedUp]

They look like pullets

X2

I call it my own 'sneaky cockerel' bias when it comes to Marans- but they really do seem to go through a developmental stage where they just give the look, where I drive myself batty, second guessing.

Betting these are all pullets too.

 

[Tookie]

They look like French Cuckoo Maran females.

Hoover's does have them.
https://www.hoovershatchery.com/frenchcuckoomarans.html

 

[sourland]

Where did you get them? Some suppliers are notorious for mislabeling breeds. If they are 'for sure' Midnight Majesty Marans, they are cockerels.

 

[springvalley123]

They could be cuckoo marans by mistake, to my eye they look like pullets. One almost looks like the start of saddle feathers, but I wouldn't think at that age they would....The one actual male midnight majesty marans I got, stood literally head and shoulders above the pullets, but took until at least a few weeks older than yours to do so. I had a female barred rock get slilpped in with the pullet MMM's, but yours don't seem to have any yellow on their legs at all for that to happen.

 

[Shabib1]

I know hatcheries will replace chicks if they're out of a specific breed you wanted, so that could've happened.
You could contact them anyways and ask about it.

Was there a certain reason for wanting the Midnight Majesties?

That makes sense! No reason other than they look like neat birds and I already have some barred rocks so I was hoping for more variety to my flock

 

[Tookie]

That makes sense! No reason other than they look like neat birds and I already have some barred rocks so I was hoping for more variety to my flock

Okay, I see! Variety is nice for different looks in your flock.
They won't look exactly like your BRs, they'll be darker which is nice so they don't look too too similar. Plus they've got those feathered legs.
You'll still get pretty chocolate eggs though.

 

[AusHen]

Are you allowed roosters? If you are grab a black copper Marans rooster and breed him to your barred rocks you will be essentially making your own mystic marans which are sex-link offspring from those two breeds. If you breed him to the cuckoo Marans you would also make sex-link Marans

 

[Tookie]

Thank you for the help! I do have one Wyandotte that is definitely a rooster. He developed quickly but so far has been pleasant to deal with.

Good that he's doing ok so far, but soon enough those hormones will kick in and that may change. Just something to be wary of.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

They look like pullets