OE feather sexable?!!

[ChickenWhisperer101]

Hello y’all!

I hatched some eggs and 2 were OEs. I Believe they are BCM x EE, but not really sure. I have 2 chicks, and they are both feathering at different rates. Here are the pictures. Any ideas if they are a male and female?

Chick 1 (fast feathering)

Chick 2 (Slow feathering)

 

[Painted Calls]

That's interesting, but EE's are mixed breeds. Not much control there. One could also say you got lucky.

 

[NatJ]

I hatched some eggs and 2 were OEs. I Believe they are BCM x EE, but not really sure. I have 2 chicks, and they are both feathering at different rates. Here are the pictures. Any ideas if they are a male and female?

For sexing these particular chicks, I would just wait until you can see comb & wattle development, and figure out gender from that.

I would not try to sex those chicks based on feathering speed. Either gender can feather at either speed. To get feather-sexable chicks, the father must be fast-feathering and the mother must be slow-feathering (the chicks reverse that: slow sons, fast daughters). But unless you know the feathering speed of the parents, I would assume that feathering speed does not tell you anything about the gender of the chicks.

You might want to keep notes on which one was feathering at which speed, so you will know if they could produce feather-sexable offspring in the next generation.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

They are a week old, but have been like this since they got tail feathers.

 

[MysteryChicken]

They are a week old, but have been like this since they got tail feathers.

I know that Easter Egger X Brahma creates feather Sexible Olive Eggers in my experience.
Still technically a variety of EE.

Looks you have a pair.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

So the one with tail feathers would be female? I’m wondering because I have someone who wants a few chicks and is willing to take on a rooster or 2.

 

[Painted Calls]

Post pics of combs and wattles at 6-8 weeks. I will not try to wing sex anything that hasn't been proven to be wing sexed accurately.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Post pics of combs and wattles at 6-8 weeks. I will not try to wing sex anything that hasn't been proven to be wing sexed accurately.

I have actually with my EE/Brahma crosses.

Sexed them as 4 males, & 6 Females, & was correct.
Males were slow feathering, & the Females were Fast Feathering.

Planning on making an article explaining the process of how I wing feather sex different breeds, & crosses as soon as I can get around to it. I may try next year.

 

[Painted Calls]

Keep collecting that data though. Will be an interesting study.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Keep collecting that data though. Will be an interesting study.

Thanks, yes it will.