Polish chick sexing - 2 weeks old

[MabelTheMuscovy]

Hello!

I have a single polish chick... I've heard you can sex based on the size of the head. Anyone with any polish experience know what the chick might be? I was thinking a boy based on other pictures I have seen but not sure?

Please note that s/he is 2 weeks old so maybe I should have tried to sex it earlier!

Thanks in advance.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Too soon to tell. Once the head feathers show themselves more, it will be clear.

 

[MabelTheMuscovy]

Okay! Hopefully a few more weeks will show! Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I doubt it. Male and female crests look identical at that age. Hackle, tail and wing feathers take even longer.
Check the pictures on the following link and you can see how the M-F crests vary when mature.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Polish/BRKPolish.html

 

[GreatGranny]

I received my straight run of Polish chicks (4 White Crested Blue & 4 Bearded Golden Laced) back on June 6th and from experience, I can tell you that the head feathers are the main characteristic for telling them apart! Waiting for tail feathers and wing feathers can be daunting, and as with mine, looking at wing and tail feathers can truly throw you off unless they are 10 weeks or older, and maybe not even then!

Watching closely over the past couple of months, the head feathers were accurate at 100%! You will see that at between 6 and 8 weeks when the crest feathers are in bloom!

At 6 weeks my 2- White Crested Blue Polish roos were sprouting their Wattles! The females did not have any wattles so that was an easy tell! But both males had the spikey, needle looking feathers in their crest, sorta like looking at a punk hairdo from the back, and the females had smooth, rounded, and a soft head feathering, with a much softer look all around! Like little white mushrooms on their heads!

The golden Laced did the same but with the beards, it was a little harder to sex them...but the head feathers on the 2 males were spikey and irregular growing while the female's feathers were soft, flowing and had rounded ends!

My Polish chicks matured very quickly and all 4 roos are crowing already! They have been crowing for the past three weeks! All 8 have been integrated with the main flock of 21- beautiful (a mixed variety) hens and one White Crested Black Polish roo! He, Poli, is a fantastic, gracious, and friendly roo, and he is the reason we decided we wanted to add more of the Polish breed to our flock! And so far we have not been let down! Oh, and his crest came in the same way as the other roos' and he matured early! He was crowing at around 6 weeks!

 

[GreatGranny]

I doubt it. Male and female crests look identical at that age. Hackle, tail and wing feathers take even longer.
Check the pictures on the following link and you can see how the M-F crests vary when mature.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Polish/BRKPolish.html

Great Pics and they tell the story vividly reference the crest differences! Beautiful pics of the breed!

 

[MabelTheMuscovy]

Hi guys! Thanks for all the replies. Thats the chick now 3 and a half weeks old so I thought I'd post a couple of pic again. I will try to post a few along the way until I know for sure if its a boy or girl!
The sexing will be extra hard..... because its a frizzle! So I reckon that crest shape could be tricky to figure out until much later! Plus I have no others for comparison haha!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've had polish and frizzles but not frizzled polish.
Since it is a frizzle, I wouldn't dare hazard a guess for at least 2 more months.
Maybe when it starts crowing you'll know.

 

[MabelTheMuscovy]

Here's a few pics of the crazy chick at just short of 5 weeks!

 

[GreatGranny]

At that age, my White Crested/Blue Poli roos were sporting their red wattles, but other than that, this one being a frizzle really throws me off! I am going to say this is possibly a pullet and a beautiful pullet to boot... But the bald spot on the back of your Poli's head, with the way the feathers lay open, was how my Golden Laced roos feathered out on their crests! Polis tend to mature early so if he/she doesn't crow in the next few weeks then you probably have a pullet!
Wow! Now I want me some frizzle polish chickens!! Beautiful bird!!