Please tell me this is a pullet.

[VegaCoyote]

This is Alvin- backstory to the name, of the original 8 chicks we bought, 3 were chipmunk-patterned, and Alvin was the jerk. Always shoving and pouncing and starting little velociraptor fights. She’s about 2 months old, and we got her from Fleet Farm where she was being sold as an Americana, emphasis on the I. So, easter egger, just more hawk-faced about it.

She’s since mellowed out towards the others, and out of our tiny flock she’s the most affectionate towards humans. Always the first in my lap when I go sit down by them.

Unfortunately, we live in a suburb where we’re not allowed a crowing bird, and Alvin seems to be developing pointed hackle feathers. No crowing yet, so I’ve been crossing my fingers in hope that she just happens to have a glamorous Farrah Fawcett hairdo, but the more I skim posts here posing similar questions, the more I think I might just be in denial.

On the plus side, at least she’s already got a boy’s name. (Not that we bothered renaming last time this happened- Cordelia was just such a fancy boy, the name still suited after he turned out to be a him.)

On the minus side, s/he’d have to go live somewhere that’s not here, and I love h/im/er.

 

[500Chickens]

I am going to say pullet

 

[Jener8or]

x2

 

[thecatumbrella]

This is a pullet.

 

[SilverBirds]

Pullet!

 

[VegaCoyote]

Yay! Fingers still crossed, Alvin and her glamorous Farrah Fawcett hairdo get to stay with me!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Relax. Coloring says pullet. You're fine. I'm still a noob at gender ID and *I* can see she's a she!

 

[VegaCoyote]

Oh, cool, there’s a way to tell just by color even with birds of uncertain ancestry? Tell me how! What are the color clues?

 

[SilverBirds]

Oh, cool, there’s a way to tell just by color even with birds of uncertain ancestry? Tell me how! What are the color clues?

Once you know what to look for you can easily tell by the feather pattern. Your girl has a common partridge based pattern that we see a lot in hatchery bred Easter Eggers.

The female's pattern generally stays nice and consistent throughout. If she has multiple colors, they tend to nicely blend together to stay uniform.

Here are a few pics of female EEs I got of Google. Even though they are all different colors and the patterns vary slightly, they are still similar.





Males are usually bolder and brighter with bigger blocks of color around. Growing cockerels tend to have messy, uneven feather patterns. You may see random colors or patterns disrupting the overall pattern, especially in the shoulder and saddle areas where they will grow their long beautiful male feather. The rusty red color is also something we see in a lot of EE cockerels. It usually comes in around the shoulder/hackle/saddle areas and is almost always an indicator of a boy.




Looking at pictures on the web or on BYC of pullets and cockerels you will become familiar with the difference between gender feather patterns. A lot of other mixed breeds and a few pure breeds can be sexed using similar feather pattern methods.
Always remember to check the comb as well as that is the #1 and most accurate method of sexing.

 

[VegaCoyote]

Awesome, thanks so much for the primer!

Looking at these, Cordelia might still have flown under the radar for a while longer too… he had a similar partridge pattern, but on a white/silvery base, and it was very much his increasingly long, pretty neck feathers that eventually gave him away to a visiting friend who Knew Chickens. His sister Gertrude looked a lot like Alvin, but a lot less poofy and swooshy around the neck, so I think that’s what got me so worried.

No pictures, unfortunately, as this was A While ago (not quite Pre-iPhone, but pre me getting an iPhone, which still kinda places the date) or I’d post em for comparison. That would’ve been fun. Wish I still had some of Cordy, his saddle feathers eventually started getting more glossy black in the pattern. Such a fancy boy!

Again, thanks for taking the time to help educate me. I really appreciate the help, and it’s super nice of everyone to reassure me about Alvin!