Please help with gender I.D BCM and ameraucana

[nunlef]

Hi,
I'm new here, but have been looking around since June. I have gotten a lot of good advice without posting a thing, but now I would really like to figure out the sex of my chicks. The lady I bought them from had 2 Black Copper Marans (1 female, 1 male) and 2 Ameraucana (1 female, 1 male). I bought 6 of her chicks, and am now trying to figure out what I have.

Hatch date sept 18-19 so they are just shy of 9 weeks old.

4 are "pure" BCM, 1 is "pure" ameraucana, 1 is a cross. (the quotations are because these aren't show birds, so who knows if they are true pure bred chickens)

I can only seem to identify 5 different chickens. 2 look so similar that i can't tell them apart in photos, so these 5 will have to do.

Thanks so much in advance, I'm really enjoying having these guys, but I do want to rid our yard of any excess roosters before our 2 new hens get here (white leghorn and a red star both 5 months old). If someone sees a particually good looking chicken, I would also like to know. I will want to hatch some eggs in the spring, and would use my own birds if they look good.


oops,
I guess i can't post pictures. Maybe someone could tell me if there is a general scale for maturity with these breeds. I have read a million posts about gender and the BCM, but I haven't seen a scale. Can a roo have no protruding comb at 9 weeks, and could a female have a very developed comb? Also, is temperament an indicator of sex?


Thanks,
Heather

 

[fiddlebanshee]

You will be able to post pics after 10 posts. You can also post them on some other public platform and include a link in your post here.

sorry, no other advice. Hope this helped.

Cheers,
Jo

 

[nunlef]

thanks so much.

I put them on photo bucket, and here are the links - please excuse the spelling mistake, the one chick is of course "princess" with 2 s's

 

[dwegg]

Beta, Alpha, (BCM) and Friendly (Ameraucana) are roos...

cinderella (amerauvcana) ...girl

Princess (BCM or Ameraucana?) i can't see...

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Princess and the black Ameraucana look like ladies to me with Alpha, Beta, and Friendly cockerels.

 

[nunlef]

Thank you so much for the replies. I also just realized i put this in the wrong section - sorry about that.

Well, I guess that also answers my question about personality. Friendly is the biggest pita I have ever dealt with (and i fostered poorly behaved german shepherds before this). The 3 supposed roos do a chest bumping thing all day, the others just stand around and watch

I do have one more question.
Is Alpha pretty enough to keep for the purpose of breeding? He does have feathered legs, and has a pretty good personality (he is the alpha, but is easy to pick up and pet). I've not seen any white on him, either.

THanks,
Heather