Peahen or peacock?

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! I'm thinking male.

Fabulous pictures!

 

[KsKingBee]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know at what age you can usually tell if it's a boy or a girl with more certainty? Or it just depends on the individual bird?

Pics are always deceiving if in person it would be much easier. Your problem is that it has some green blood in it making it a Spaulding and they can trick you until they either grow a train or lay an egg. Watch for the lacing on the neck to go away and the neck to turn blue or the or the neck to turn green and the barring go away.

This yearling had me and a couple of other large breeders thinking hen for a long time.

 

[old biddy]

Thanks! I really hope that it turns out to be a peahen though. I do have 1 other peacock. He is a black shoulder and all his colors are coming in so he is easier to tell that he's a boy.

How old is your black shoulder? I have one at 9 months and think it is female but not sure.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

Pics are always deceiving if in person it would be much easier. Your problem is that it has some green blood in it making it a Spaulding and they can trick you until they either grow a train or lay an egg. Watch for the lacing on the neck to go away and the neck to turn blue or the or the neck to turn green and the barring go away.

This yearling had me and a couple of other large breeders thinking hen for a long time.

How can you tell that my pea is a Spaulding? It makes total sense. I got him from Cackle Hatchery and they send random colors that could be any combination of these: India blue, purple, Spaulding, black shoulder, white, opal, and pied.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

How old is your black shoulder? I have one at 9 months and think it is female but not sure.

He is now 11 months old. Here's a pic of him at 6 months old when his neck feathers started showing some green color.

 

[KsKingBee]

How can you tell that my pea is a Spaulding? It makes total sense. I got him from Cackle Hatchery and they send random colors that could be any combination of these: India blue, purple, Spaulding, black shoulder, white, opal, and pied.

The general characteristics, the shape of the head, the color of the green neck, wide barring, length of the legs and the fact we are having this discussion at this age. An IB would have no guessing at this age.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

Welcome to BYC! I'm thinking male.

Fabulous pictures!

Thanks for the welcome! I get the chance to take a lot of scenic pics when my 2 pet peas and I go on hikes together. I like to take them traveling with me. Right now we are heading towards Yellowstone National Park.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the welcome! I get the chance to take a lot of scenic pics when my 2 pet peas and I go on hikes together. I like to take them traveling with me. Right now we are heading towards Yellowstone National Park.

Wow, really? I can't wait to see those pictures!

 

[casportpony]

When you get a chance you should introduce yourself and you peas here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/new-member-introductions.44/create-thread

I think lots of people will enjoy meeting you.

 

[Kedreeva]

I'm not sure why everyone jumped on Hen except for the neck lacing, but that's definitely a cock if he's still got all that barring at 6 months old, and the lacing is almost gone by 11 months old... his face, to me, has absolutely no spalding bone structure and he looks JUST like my own blue pied boys at that age.

Here's Des, one of my blue pied males from a couple years ago, at 6 months for reference:

EDIT: Additionally, if you're up in Alaska (or even Oregon, though Oregon is generally warmer than Alaska), where it's quite cold, peas just... grow slower in the cold. I live in Michigan where it's not nearly as cold but still takes a long time to warm up in the spring and winters can get bitter and deep, and I've never seen a boy raised here get a train before 3 years old, and usually the ones I've seen don't REALLY get their trains until 4... Until I started housing babies indoors in my warm barn, I didn't even see eye feathers on boys at 2, not even 1 feather. So, considering your (potential? maybe you just travel to cold places) climate, a slower growth rate would not surprise me at all.