Polands: help identify sex and color, please

[AuntieWeasel]

I bought six Ebay Poland bantam eggs, unknown colors. I could use help working out the colors and especially the genders. I'm lost! I've waited patiently before asking (ha!), but they're a full two months old today. All hatched within 24 hours of each other.

Here's G and Albert. Look at those big red wattles! Albert is twice the size of my smallest bird and I've had him pegged as male from the start. White crested blue? What about G? Gold laced, I assume. Are those saddle feathers I'm seeing?

Next we have Chel and Rackets. One shell was marked CH, so I'm assuming that's chamois. And are they bearded? Rackets has a very red face, but Chel's is pale. Hope that shows in the pics. I'm thinking Rackets is male and Chel is...? Dare I hope?

This is spoon. Self blue? Sex?

This is Po. What color is this? The back of the crest is white. Sex?

Okay, yes, this is Spoon with a ringer. It was an egg from my own Pekin flock. I used it as a 'test egg' to make sure the turntable was working right, then just left it in, because it couldn't possibly hatch, right? I'm stymied. The comb and wattles are bigger than the chicks I had that grew up to be pullets, but smaller and less red than the two cockerels I raised last year at the same age. I'm thinking girl, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion.

Also, mom was a not very clear mille fleur and dad was either a not very clear mille fleur or a lavender. What the heck is this -- some black ancestry coming out?

Thanks for any help you can give. Many, many more pictures available on request (including as day olds). My husband has said right along I was going to end up with a rooster flock, so if they're all boys, it will at least make him rich in 'I told you so' points.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

So for my polish that I’ve hatched, I found the males get their wattles in pretty early. Mine had theirs as early as 8 weeks old.

Redness or comb doesn’t always indicate male, but large wattle and redness both at an age before egg laying usually does.

It seems to me you have a white crested blue, a gold laced, a self blue, maybe two buff laced, and a cuckoo.

As for sexing them, I’d need better pictures of their wattles directly. From what I can see, your white crested blue looks male, the two buff laced look female as well as the cuckoo and self blue. But without direct close up wattle and comb picks, it’s hard to tell.

If you can get me more pictures I can probably be more accurate. So far with my own I’ve been accurate about 90-95% of the time.

 

[cmom]

To me it appears to be a male.

 

[AuntieWeasel]

Thank you, Doublegi. You sound like the person to ask. I'll try, but they fuss something awful when I try to move the feathers back for a good look at their faces. I'll need an accomplice to do that AND get pics. None of them has anything like the big red wattles that Albert has, though.

Did you mean the pekin, cmom? I was sure it was male for the longest, but I went back and looked at chick pictures of my boys from last year, and their combs and wattles were much more obvious at two months.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Here are some pictures of my Polish at 8 weeks old. I can already start making some decent guesses about whose what. They are 3 buff laced and 2 golden laced.

Golden laced female

Golden laced male

Buff laced female

Buff laced female #2

Buff laced male

Notice the difference in wattles between my boys and my girls? Now my buff laced female #2 could be a late blooming boy, but it seems unlikely, even though her wattles are a little red, they are very small, and the rest of her face is still pale.

The things to look for are large, RED wattles, and a red face. Of course there will be some that fool you, but in general, the accuracy at this age should still be 80%

 

[AuntieWeasel]

Very helpful. Thank you. It's exactly two months today, so I'll watch a while longer, but only one has very obvious wattles. And one has kinda, sorta wattles. Surely the incubator gods can't have been this kind to me on my first hatch?

On the other hand, my experiment with a broody last year: after twelve supposedly fertile eggs, I got two roosters and one hen. So maybe fate owes me one.

Did you do anything to their crests to make them stand up like that? My poor birds are practically blind. They walk into things and miss social cues from the big chickens. Those big crests are awfully cute, but it really is hard on them.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Nope, mine just look silly looking at this age. Since mine aren'tumm from the best stock, they’re essentially rescues, they won’t have as nice crests yet as others. But they are also standard fowl size, not bantams, which show stuff earlier.

So since yours are bantams, you might have ended up really lucky. From what I can guess from the pictures, it looks like two males so far. Also congrats on a perfect hatch! It’s hard to do with eBay eggs.

As for their vision, sometimes I just use scissors and cut off the feathers directly in front of their eyes, just to make vision a bit better.

 

[Lisa G.]

OMG - I have no idea on gender but your birds are GORGEOUS. I have one Polish- (white head, black body) but yours are to die for!!!!!

 

[AuntieWeasel]

I know, I know! I couldn't believe I got a 100% hatch. Everyone told me I wouldn't. Truth be told, I don't have room for seven more chickens!

Thanks so much for your help.

Edit to add: They make me smile every time, Lisa G. I feel awful laughing when they walk straight into a table leg, but honestly...

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Do you mind me asking what eBay seller you got them from? They really are beautiful birds.