Paranoid I may have two cockerels - HELP!!

[azygous]

My pullets just turned six weeks old. I had a very startling surprise just yesterday when I noticed one of them is an Ameraucana instead of the GLW I'd ordered. But I can live with that. I love her no matter what color she is.

The thing that has me losing sleep is that two of the six chicks are larger than the rest and are engaging in mock cock fighting. It's possible these little guys got mixed in with the pullets right after they came in to the feed store since some little kids were picking up the chicks and putting them back in the wrong pens. That's how I ended up with the EE instead of a Wyandotte.

I need all your expert eyes to take a look at my little guys and tell me what you think - pullets or cockerels?

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

Pullets that are going down the pecking order and in some cases a hen has a sex change mentally and will swear she is a rooster its common alot in flocks that have no rooster. What I see when I look at those are 2 pullets but take it with a grain of salt.

 

[lovinlife]

I think pullets, also. The EE is def a pullet, she has pullet coloring.

 

[azygous]

I was just out sitting with the chicks in the pen. I picked up the two EE's, (one the "former" Wyandotte), and compared them side by side. The EE pictured here has a much larger head and thicker neck than the other little EE. Also, this one's tail has long feathers beginning to emerge, pointing downward.

That said, I suspected this chick may have been hatched a day or two sooner than the rest, since it was much larger from the beginning. However, I had another EE that, next to her, was obviously male, very obvious even at six days old, when I exchanged him at the feed store for the Brahma pictured here. Who, by the way, immediately established herself as alpha chick, even though the others preceded her by six days in the brooder.

The feed store swore they were all pullets. Yeah, I know, I know. Feed stores.

I'm hoping these two are just exhibiting masculine tendencies and are pullets non-the-less. Please experts! Reassure me!

 

[lovinlife]

I've never seen an EE cockerel with coloring like that. If it is, that'll be a first.

I don't know Brahmas, but it looks like a girl also.

 

[elmo]

The chicks from my last year's batch all chest bumped and challenged each other, and they've been laying eggs regularly since last fall, so no doubt about their gender! The girl chicks from this year's batch all do it, too.

If that's the only indication you're going by, you have nothing to worry about. It was very obvious by about 4-5 weeks with my bantams which were the boys simply by comparing the comb development: all the boys had developed bigger combs that had already begun to turn red by that age. And a couple of them were beginning to crow by 6 weeks.

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
Even the best sexers can't always identify gender correctly when the birds are chicks- most guarantee a 90% rate or so, which is then passed on to the local feed stores, who (un)intentionally bump the accuracy up to 100%

That being said, all of my little pullets chest bump... even the girls have to establish a pecking order

I am by no means an expert, but your girls look like girls to me!

 

[Cynthia12]

Quote:
My four and half month old pullets are doing the same thing, and I know they are pullets...they seem to be playing around, feeling their oats.

 

[Cynthia12]

Elmo, is it normal for most bantys to start crowing that early? I have some that will be hatching in a few days, and I've never had bantys before...Welsummer banty. It would be great to know early, I have some people that want some pullets. Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Thanks so much for the reassurance! I really have been anxiety ridden the past couple days over this. I have one rooster, and another one would make life too complicated. I can't eat my pets so that's not an option. And no one around here wants chickens let alone trying to talk them into a rooster, so re-homing him wouldn't be possible!

I'm curious, though. A couple of you mentioned that EE cockerels don't have the coloring mine has. Could someone post a photo of an EE cockerel? Maybe an EE rooster too?