Newest chicks and how to tell Maran gender?

[DesertBrahma]

I recently decided I'm not going to let my Brahma chickens raise anymore chicks. It's just too darn hot for them here in Southern NM during the summer. I also decided to get some breeds of chicks I had really been wanting. I now have Naked Neck, Maran, Easter Eggers, and Red Production, along with my meat bird chicks. The Naked Neck, Red Production, and Meat birds are about 5 weeks old, and the Maran, and Easter Eggers are 4 weeks. I can tell the gender of everyone EXCEPT the Marans. I got 5 straight run chicks. They just don't look like they're feathering out very fast. They're also a bit smaller than the rest. On my Naked Necks I have definite 4 males, and 7 females. I'll pare if down to 1 male soon. My 3 Red Productions , and 5 Easter Eggers are all definitely female since they were sexed pullets. My Meat birds I can tell also which are which but not these 5 silly little Maran chicks. I think I have 2 female and 3 males which I'll pare down to 1 male as soon as I'm sure. Everyone is eating drinking and looking great. I'm just curious if I can start telling who is who, or if I should just toss everyone in my grow out pen where they can see the adults but be safe. Then sort them when I get ready to process the meat birds, and hold back extra males for later processing. These chicks are ready to get into a bigger area. My meat birds, and 2 of the Naked Neck males have been outside for a week already. So I would like to get them moved also and sorted so everyone is where they need to be to either grow up accustomed to the Brahmas being around, or for processing.

 

[Spartan22]

Four week olds Marans might be hard to sex unless their showing early signs. For my Black Copper Marans didn’t fully figure it out till 7-8 wks, some took longer, indications from wattle, combs, hackle and saddle feathers shape and color. Now it depends on what kind of Marans you have, my blue mossy Marans took me longer to figure out. Can you post photos? Someone might be able to tell from them.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Well, you may have some hiding boys, because 4 and 5 weeks is too young to sex birds. Yes, there are early cockerels, but some boys are later developing. So, could you post pics of their combs at 7 weeks?

 

[DesertBrahma]

That's what I was thinking. I was thinking my "late bloomers" were boys, and the "early bloomers" were girls. Meaning the ones who got their feathers first were girls, and the ones who got them last were boys. So far 2 of the 5 still don't have tail feathers and look more chickish than the other 3. Those 2 are also acting more boyish than the rest. I can easily tell my Naked Neck boys from the girls because they're heads, combs, and battles are really red compared to the yellow of the girls. I'll be waiting to see what all 5 actually are. It feels like I'll be waiting forever lol. These goofy chicks are just taking their sweet time to do things. Oh well They'll stay separated from my adults until they no longer act or look like chicks. They can all see each other, which will hopefully make integration easier.

 

[DesertBrahma]

Well the 5 chicks in question are definitely Black Copper Marans. Looks like judging I have 2 boys and 3 girls. Which is better than what I thought I'd have seeing as they were straight run like my Naked Necks were. They're growing and happy so far which is a good thing. I only want to keep 1 boy though.