Please help confirm my color sexing of these EEs--I need to put the cockerels in the meat pen ASAP

[WalkingOnSunshine]

What a bummer for %'s.

For what it's worth, I like the last boy. I'd use him as an EE breeder. He's got some beautiful colour.

He is lovely, isn't he? I do love the blue. Unfortunately for him, I only use actual Ameraucanas for breeding. Makes me twitch to not know if the rooster is homozygous for the blue egg gene, and to not know the rest of the EE's heritage.

I only bought these because I realized that I was picking up 20 brown egg laying pullets in April, and it would throw the color balance of my rainbow cartons off if I didn't have some more EEs on the way up. And since I have three roosters--all different breeds--and it would take me at least four weeks to get hatching eggs that I knew would carry the blue egg gene, I decided to pick up these chicks.

Here's his competition in the blue egg gene contest:

 

[aoxa]

He is lovely, isn't he? I do love the blue. Unfortunately for him, I only use actual Ameraucanas for breeding. Makes me twitch to not know if the rooster is homozygous for the blue egg gene, and to not know the rest of the EE's heritage.

I only bought these because I realized that I was picking up 20 brown egg laying pullets in April, and it would throw the color balance of my rainbow cartons off if I didn't have some more EEs on the way up. And since I have three roosters--all different breeds--and it would take me at least four weeks to get hatching eggs that I knew would carry the blue egg gene, I decided to pick up these chicks.

Here's his competition in the blue egg gene contest:

I say the other boy is prettier for colours. But that's me

I had EEs and still have 2 pure Ameraucanas (only girls so breeding is out of the question). I penned my Ams. I let my EEs roam with the layers (including the roosters) They were to be the only roosters with the layers, so I could pick out the blue eggs and just hatch those to expand my flock. That's how we will do it again. I have 15 straight run EEs on order. From definitely blue egg lines. I had 4 hens and all 4 laid the prettiest sky blue eggs. SO I picked the same breeder. That way I have good chances at more sky blue eggs.

I'll most likely have a thread just like this in a few months. It's always easier telling someone else they have all boys When it's your own birds in question - you go into denial.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I say the other boy is prettier for colours. But that's me

I had EEs and still have 2 pure Ameraucanas (only girls so breeding is out of the question). I penned my Ams. I let my EEs roam with the layers (including the roosters) They were to be the only roosters with the layers, so I could pick out the blue eggs and just hatch those to expand my flock. That's how we will do it again. I have 15 straight run EEs on order. From definitely blue egg lines. I had 4 hens and all 4 laid the prettiest sky blue eggs. SO I picked the same breeder. That way I have good chances at more sky blue eggs.

I'll most likely have a thread just like this in a few months. It's always easier telling someone else they have all boys When it's your own birds in question - you go into denial.

It's awesome that you have EEs from blue egg lines. I need to work on some building projects so that I can separate out a rooster and a little flock, and then that Am boy will go in with all of my white Leghorn ladies to make blue egg laying EEs for me.

I don't feel too badly getting rid of that blue and red rooster--there's a pullet from that same straight run bunch that's almost entirely blue. She's absolutely gorgeous. So I'll be keeping that blue color in the flock a little, at least. Maybe I'll breed her to the lemon blue cuckoo Marans in my avatar and see what I get. Too bad you're so far away from me. I'd give you the pretty EE boy for free.

 

[my sunwolf]

Bird 4 is the only one I am questioning as pullet, the othes look to be roosters. Those red patches are a giveaway!

I agree! It would help to have a comb shot of Bird 4--sometimes that black and white coloring turns out to be pullets.

 

[aoxa]

It's awesome that you have EEs from blue egg lines. I need to work on some building projects so that I can separate out a rooster and a little flock, and then that Am boy will go in with all of my white Leghorn ladies to make blue egg laying EEs for me.

I don't feel too badly getting rid of that blue and red rooster--there's a pullet from that same straight run bunch that's almost entirely blue. She's absolutely gorgeous. So I'll be keeping that blue color in the flock a little, at least. Maybe I'll breed her to the lemon blue cuckoo Marans in my avatar and see what I get. Too bad you're so far away from me. I'd give you the pretty EE boy for free.

Does breeding them to white leghorns increase their egg size and frequency quite a bit?

 

[Bill Matthews]

Bird #5 is the only one of these that can be definitely identified as a male based on the pictures and angles shown...The gray one immediately preceding him most likely but not definitely...Identifying sex by the color patterns at this age is new to me...Let them grow a couple weeks more...Can't hurt..

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Does breeding them to white leghorns increase their egg size and frequency quite a bit?

Yes, they make a nice EE together. In fact, I've gotten jumbo blue eggs from the cross!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Bird #5 is the only one of these that can be definitely identified as a male based on the pictures and angles shown...The gray one immediately preceding him most likely but not definitely...Identifying sex by the color patterns at this age is new to me...Let them grow a couple weeks more...Can't hurt..

Thanks for trying to help Bill, but the ones with the red patches are 100% cockerel. I was 99% sure before aoxa confirmed it for me. With EEs, those red patches on the shoulders are sex linked and occur only in cockerels. In fact, after aoxa confirmed cockerel for bird #5 for me, I looked again, and sure enough, he has red patches on his wings, also.

And letting them grow a couple more weeks would hurt--not them, but me. The cockerels are going for meat, and they need higher protein feed as quickly as I can ID them.