Ok, BYC, I Want To Hear You Say It

[AmyJane725]

Hi guys, I posted a thread a few weeks ago asking for the genders on the majority of my flock. I was promptly told by the majority of people that they were all cockerels (with like 2 people saying that my self-blue cochin bantam could possibly be a precocious pullet). Now, I will submit that a lot of them were cockerels. I have re-homed 9 cockerels as of late and I'm estimating that I still have at least 6, but at the time I posted I was fairly certain that at least two or three of them were pullets, and I'm sticking to my guns. So, for your consideration, I'm re-posting:

Princess Poof: 62 Day Old True Bantam Silkie Asian Broiler. No wattles, and a comb so small I really can't get a decent picture of it. It's about the size of a pencil eraser. Her hair is kinda messy because it's dirty and because I was trying to part it to get a picture of her comb, but normally it's kinda a round puffball shape. And I'm not even sure if she has a standard comb. It's not a single or a walnut like the others. It's just this teeny little thing.

Gusty: 69 Day Old Self-Blue Cochin Bantam: Red Comb and Wattles, BUT comb is tiny and thin like a pullet (not plump like a cockerel), and here are her brothers for comparison (They're the left two in this pic. Photo taken two and a half weeks ago). Same age. If she's a cockerel I'll eat my hat).

Name TBD: 62 Day Old True Bantam Silkie Asian Broiler. Small/low profile walnut comb and largely crestless. Has really little wattles (the camera adds 10 pounds. They don't look nearly this big in real life as they do in the first picture). She's the smallest of my silkies and doesn't act cockish at all. Her brothers are constantly having the little stare-downs and poofing up their neck feathers, and they're also way bigger than she is.

Here are some pictures of her brothers, just for comparison: Two are very large, and all three act very cockish. They all have their little dominance contests with my other 3 cockerels and two of them walk with a really cockish stance. I know stance isn't always telling, but in this case I feel like it's just more evidence. They also have way thicker legs than any of the girls above, and wattles that are visible from a distance (even though they look kinda small in the first two pics). Toby (last one pictured) acts the most effeminately of the three of them, but I think it's cause he's a snuggle bug/suck-up. He still competes with the other boys. He has a plump/medium single comb and the biggest wattles of them all.

So, come on BYC, I want to hear you say it! Tell me I have some pullets!!! Please...At least Princess Poof.

@Cyprus cause you said you'd look

 

[Cyprus]

First Silkie- Pullet
Cochin- Cockerel
Other Silkie- Cockerel (pretty sure)

 

[AmyJane725]

First Silkie- Pullet
Cochin- Cockerel
Other Silkie- Cockerel (pretty sure)

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I knew my precious Princess Poof was a pullet.

Are we still going on comb and wattles for Gusty? I just don't see how she can be a cockerel. Is she a SUPER late bloomer?

That last silkie I've been going back and forth on/trying not to get my hopes up. I find it harder to tell with the walnut combs because they're like, flat? I'm still kinda leaning pullet so I'll hold onto it to see what happens.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Our silkie boy took any doubt away by crowing up a storm at 2 months... Before that, his “streamers” on his head poof were already making it pretty clear he was a boy, plus he often cheat bumped our other cockerels. Our girls had a very round head poof and didn’t chest bump.

 

[AmyJane725]

Our silkie boy took any doubt away by crowing up a storm at 2 months... Before that, his “streamers” on his head poof were already making it pretty clear he was a boy, plus he often cheat bumped our other cockerels. Our girls had a very round head poof and didn’t chest bump.

It kind of doesn't help matters that my "silkies" are not the standard silkie that people think of. They're designed to be broilers (though they don't have the health problems that cornish x have) and the head poof is lost in a lot of cases. Some of mine still kinda have it, and Princess Poof has it, but the others kinda just have little mohawks.

None of my silkies have crowed yet. They don't really make much noise. Princess Poof talks to me when I hold her though. Of the 6 confirmed cockerels that I have, only one has attempted crowing at all.

 

[Cyprus]

Are we still going on comb and wattles for Gusty? I just don't see how she can be a cockerel. Is she a SUPER late bloomer?

Yes, comb and wattles. The Cochin pullet I bought of the same age had no development.

 

[AmyJane725]

Yes, comb and wattles. The Cochin pullet I bought of the same age had no development.

Do you think there's something wrong with him then? That he's so underdeveloped at this point?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Do you think there's something wrong with him then? That he's so underdeveloped at this point?

Can’t say anything about Cochins, but we had Ameraucana chicks that turned out to all be cockerels when we wanted pullets. I had someone who would take cockerels at 6 weeks of age. At that point, several Ameraucana chicks had the three rowed pea comb that was pinking up so they went to that person. One more had almost no comb development and we kept him. At 2 months, my DD though he was getting three rows on his comb; I did not. We had a bet that took months for me to lose - he was a super late bloomer. We had him in a run with a rooster so that may have contributed. Vespucci the Ameraucana took forever to crow and develop his comb and act like a boy. He fit in well for awhile, picking the roosters least favorite girls etc. However, at about 6 mo, he came into his hormones all at once, challenged and beat the prior head rooster and had to be removed. So, in my limited experience, late bloomers can develop into a typical rooster.

 

[AmyJane725]

Can’t say anything about Cochins, but we had Ameraucana chicks that turned out to all be cockerels when we wanted pullets. I had someone who would take cockerels at 6 weeks of age. At that point, several Ameraucana chicks had the three rowed pea comb that was pinking up so they went to that person. One more had almost no comb development and we kept him. At 2 months, my DD though he was getting three rows on his comb; I did not. We had a bet that took months for me to lose - he was a super late bloomer. We had him in a run with a rooster so that may have contributed. Vespucci the Ameraucana took forever to crow and develop his comb and act like a boy. He fit in well for awhile, picking the roosters least favorite girls etc. However, at about 6 mo, he came into his hormones all at once, challenged and beat the prior head rooster and had to be removed. So, in my limited experience, late bloomers can develop into a typical rooster.

Ok, I guess I'll accept it then. I kinda already did considering I have more chicks like gusty in my brooder now, that I bought after my last thread where everyone said it was a boy. I can't keep like 6 roosters.

 

[Cyprus]

Ok, I guess I'll accept it then. I kinda already did considering I have more chicks like gusty in my brooder now, that I bought after my last thread where everyone said it was a boy. I can't keep like 6 roosters.

Are you buying a lot of straught runs?