Month old Dark Brahma's - male or female?

[darkbrahmamama]

I special ordered in 15 dark brahma pullets from work, but they're 90-95% garenteed pullets. I'm pretty sure that 1 is a little Roo (I've been calling "him" Peter), as he has a lot of almost white feathers on his head, neck, & chest, & the rest of his feathers are pretty dark - plus, he's not nearly as friendly as the others & tends to highly protest being picked up. At what age should I be able to start telling the difference between the males & the females better, or more accurately? Are there any other signs to look for other than coloring? I've read about the "saddle" area, but didn't know if there was anything else? With 15 chicks, I'll be thrilled if 1 is a Roo, I will even be OK with 2 .... but I won't be able to keep any more than that, and will probably look into getting more hens or even trading if there's more than 2. Thanks!

If anyone has any pictures of their younger dark brahma roo vs hen as a visual, that'd be great! I can take pictures of my little flock as well if that'd help.

 

[Silkiesandco]

The best way to tell the sexes apart, is by the saddle feathers, hackle feathers, face redness, comb and waddles. There are some good threads on it. I have heard that the female chicks are more a cloudy grey, and the male chicks are more silvery. I am not that experienced with dark brahmas though, so you might have to search around BYC, unless a more experienced dark brahma sexer comes along.

 

[hdowden]

my pullet

here she is older

again a little older

you will notice on the cockerels a color difference on the wings as the buff on the wings will become darker. which can be seen around 10-13 weeks of age

 

[popsicle]

Dark Brahmas are easy. Are there black and or white patches? Then probably a cockerel.

Here are photos of my Dark Brahma LF:

few days:


4.5 weeks:



1 year:

 

[darkbrahmamama]

Thanks everyone! Especially for the pics. I'm starting to think that I may have 3 little roos out of the 15.

They don't have as much of the penciling on their body feathers as the others, & they have very light, a silver/white color, feathers on their heads. I guess that I need to be a little more patient for just a few weeks while they continue to change, but I might start looking into getting a few more hens. I don't mind the roosters, as I know that they help to protect the hens & I plan to free range them, but I don't know if 3 roos are too much for 12 hens? I may even wait it out until next season & order a few more chicks to help boost the number up. Thanks for all of the pointers on what to look for, & thanks for the pictures as well!

 

[popsicle]

If it helps any, I fixed the middle photo so it is bigger when clicked-on. I also looked at my calendar and the chick was 4.5 weeks old.

Three roosters for 12 hens will probably be fine for free-ranging Brahmas. You might want to ask in the Brahma thread though.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

So - they turned a month old 2 days ago and I thought I would try to get some pictures of the 3 in question. They're not the best, & please ignore the poo!

Chick # 1





Chick # 2




Chick # 3





Just a couple of group pics:

 

[popsicle]

They all look like pullets to me for now.

ETA: Watch for solid black feathers, and white feathers on the shoulders.
Here's a link with a similar aged chick that's cockerel:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/74283/dark-brahma-5-weeks-roo

 

[darkbrahmamama]

Thanks! I hope so. Then again, I wouldn't mind having a couple of roosters. So I guess that I'll wait just a few weeks longer to make sure, and if there's no roosters I'll be on the look-out for a couple!

 

[darkbrahmamama]

It's been a few weeks & I thought that I would post some more recent pics. I was only able to catch 2 of them this morning (the older they get, the faster they run!).







& this is why I thought a few of them were roosters, 2 to 3 of them are VERY dark when next to the other 12-13. Is it normal to have some pullets that are so much darker with very little lacing/penciling?