One of These is NOT Like the Others....So, What Do You Think, Folks? ( PICS)

[speckledhen]

Well, Crud. Another probably sexed pullet mistake Is it Betsy or Bubba? I picked up four chicks, shipped from Mt. Healthy Hatchery to a local feed store as sexed pullets. Two Buff Orpingtons and two New Hampshires. Ladyhawk and I were going to keep one each. Well, they are one week old tomorrow and one is not like the others, LOL. My experience in sexing chicks tells me that someone made a boo-boo here. One of the Orps has no tail and the wings are coming in like any Orp male I've ever had around this place, and there have been quite a few blue, black and splash Orp cockerels hatched at this place, just no Buffs.

So, I have three girly girls and one looking not so girly. No comb yet, but this isn't looking good for an egglayer. What say you, experienced Orp chick sexers? I say cockerel. So, out of two in the Buff Orp sexed pullet bin my DH pulled out, that's a 50% failure rate. He probably just had a knack for zeroing in on the only male in the entire shipment, lol.







Suspect in front--you see the one of the pullets in back facing left with her perky tail and full wing feathers.


Pullet in front facing left. Definitely three pullets, but the fourth? Hmm. The tiny chick is a porcelain d'anver. Ignore her.

 

[speckledhen]

Adding newer photos to this thread since no one has ventured a guess, a week having gone by. I'm about 98% sure it's a cockerel. At two weeks old, he looks bobtailed and still doesn't have full wings like the pullets do. The two NH's are just slightly redder than the Buff Orp pullet and this guy. Will have to rehome him, of course, as I have no need for an Orp rooster now, my old Orp hens having stopped laying at their advanced age (except for Meg laying sporadically).

 

[popsicle]

That is quite a difference!

I've got an obvious pair of Saipan--the cockerel is feathering in far slower like your suspect, however they have the convenience of the dimorphic coloring too.

 

[speckledhen]

This is why I love my Barred Rocks, so easy to sex!

 

[speckledhen]

The chicks are 5 weeks old now. The questionable one still has barely any tail at all and does have pink in the comb and wattles, however, the comb is positively concave, not arched at all. Though Orps do seem to mature slower than other breeds, you'd think there'd be a comb popping up there by now.
In the photos, he/she is the one full on its side facing the log with toes touching it.





Chick in question so you can see still has no tail, facing away from the camera.





My friend also has a Buff Orp among these, also named Betsy (funny story on that name, LOL). Her Betsy is labeled in the next photo and you can see the long tail of a pullet.

 

[Basskids08]

The chicks are 5 weeks old now. The questionable one still has barely any tail at all and does have pink in the comb and wattles, however, the comb is positively concave, not arched at all. Though Orps do seem to mature slower than other breeds, you'd think there'd be a comb popping up there by now. In the photos, he/she is the one full on its side facing the log with toes touching it. Chick in question so you can see still has no tail, facing away from the camera. My friend also has a Buff Orp among these, also named Betsy (funny story on that name, LOL). Her Betsy is labeled in the next photo and you can see the long tail of a pullet.

She looks like a pullet, but again as you know Orpingtons do mature slower, but by eight weeks you should know. Mine were 8 weeks when I knew what was what.

 

[YardBirdMom]

Can you pretty much tell all breed genders by 8wks?

 

[speckledhen]

If these were breeder type Orps, I'd call him Bubba and call it a day. Dang hatchery birds, ack! They are all over the place. The BBS Orp lines I had (still have one hen) always feathered a certain way and it was fairly easy to call way before the comb/wattles told the tale.

 

[speckledhen]

Can you pretty much tell all breed genders by 8wks?

You can tell a Barred Rock's sex at hatch, really any barred breed. Usually by 4 weeks, you know who is who in almost any breed, though.