Nervous about my six little EE ladies...

MisfitMarie

Songster
5 Years
Oct 20, 2014
543
98
118
Portland, OR
Is it normal to worry so much about finding a rooster in the bunch? I brought six EE chicks (pullets) home from the feed store over a week ago, and I have grown rather fond of them. Unfortunately, I can't have roosters in this area (otherwise, I would keep a rooster). I've been reading various threads in which pullets actually end up growing into roos. On the feed store website, it says that gender is determined with 90 percent accuracy, but I sure seem to hear about this mistaken gender happening a lot. Is it just me? I'm pretty attached to two of them in particular, and I would be bummed if they turned out to be roos, because I wouldn't be able to keep them. Just a mild concern. Ho hum.
 
I think it is relatively normal to worry about getting a rooster with hens, especially if you can't have a rooster. However, I think that mis-sexing by the hatchery is less common than it appears by reading BYC--after all, only people who are concerned about their flock's gender post here. Many more that aren't concerned, and therefore have no reason to post, don't ask questions on the forums. Yes, a majority of people on BYC have sexing problems, but they are only a minority of a larger group of chicken owners.

Good luck with your chicks! When they get older, feel free to post some photos of them and we'll be able to tell you what their genders are.
 
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Agree with the above. No one posts "Hey, I ordered 25 sexed pullets and got all pullets!". Folks only post when there's an issue. I've ordered lots of hatchery chicks over the years and probably average pretty close to the 95% accuracy. Some years I don't have a single Oops, this year I have 3.

You can start posting pics around 4 weeks. At that age it's too early to confirm pullet, but some roosters are obvious that early. EE are usually pretty easy to tell by 6 weeks.
 
Thanks for the responses! I feel a little less nervous about it now. I just think it would be a bummer if a couple of my favorites ended up being roos. In the future, I hope to move to a location where I can have more chickens, including a rooster. I will wait a few more weeks and then post some pictures of my chicks. Both of you shared a good point: people will generally only post if there has been a problem. I've been reading a lot of threads on the EE gender forum and have learned some useful tips... I'll just keep my eyes out for the signs and post some pics when they get older. They're just too young to tell right now. There are two that are smaller and slimmer in build without the puffy cheeks. One of which is my favorite. Hopefully, this is just because of the EE mix (they were advertised as "Ameraucanas" but I knew better and wanted them anyway). They all have dark bluish legs, which I find interesting... as I have never seen that before:

Here is a picture of my cuties.
Top to bottom: Treble, Paprika, Baby Rae, Olivia (a favorite), Tinkerbell (other favorite), and Eve.

 
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The above posters have given you good advice. Post photos of your chicks when they are at least 4 weeks old, and we should be able to determine whether they are all pullets, as they should be.
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