Polands: help identify sex and color, please

[AuntieWeasel]

I'm in England, Doublegi. Which explains the slight difference in language (Poland instead of Polish, for example).

I picked this seller because his feedback was 256 positive and only 2 negative.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

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?
View attachment 1848765
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?
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This is spoon. Self blue? Sex?
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This is Po. What color is this? The back of the crest is white. Sex?
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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.
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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.

You are correct about all the colours and yes the chamois chicks are bearded. Bearded polish chickens are harder to sex because they don't really grow wattles. Having said that I believe that your guess about Rackets being male might be right. Also Albert is definitely a boy and the last chick is cuckoo coloured.

The rest look like pullets. Good quality polish pullets will have very round floofy crests like that, making them unable to see anywhere but straight down. You can trim their feathers carefully around their eyes to help them see if you like. They don't look as pretty that way but it really helps their confidence, otherwise they can become quite timid and skittish because of their reduced vision.

The Pekin Bantam is a pullet. Not sure how she ended up blue! The father must have been the lavender you mentioned. Lavender colour actually comes from black genes.

 

[Matzwd]

They are beautiful birds! I don't know about their sexes, just wanted to tell you what you already know, lol.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Every one of the birds in the first post are pullets.

 

[AuntieWeasel]

That would be spectacular, @ChickenCanoe! Are you saying that because their crests are so rounded? Because at least one of those birds has some serious wattle action going on (and another couple are looking a bit wattle-y).

 

[ColtHandorf]

I also thought they were all pullets. The crest is so round and even. Males generally have a more unkempt crest; longer and the feathers are pointed rather than rounded. Despite the appearance of wattles I would assume they are all female.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That would be spectacular, @ChickenCanoe! Are you saying that because their crests are so rounded? Because at least one of those birds has some serious wattle action going on (and another couple are looking a bit wattle-y).

That's exactly what I'm saying. I've raised several varieties of Polish and the crest was always what I looked at for gender. Wattles can be deceiving. For a better understanding, peruse the photos of all the hens, cocks, pullets and cockerels in the following link.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Polish/BRKPolish.html

 

[AuntieWeasel]

Here's hoping you're right! That would be astonishing good luck.

I'll report back in a month or so.

 

[Rachnicko]

Hey @AuntieWeasel im interested to know what the sex of your polish ended up being?... I hatched one chick from the same ebay seller in the UK who is now nearly 7 weeks... but to make sexing harder, it’s a frizzle!

 

[AuntieWeasel]

Hi @Rachnicko. Exactly three boys and three girls. The giveaway was wattles - the boys had them and the girls had none. It was three months before I knew for sure, though.

I love my polish, but I'll probably go back to pekins. I'm too soft to cull and it's wearing me out moving cockerels around to make sure everybody gets free range time and the roosters don't kill each other.