Polish chicken hatchers/raisers - gender question

[Strawberry74]

I have three candy corn polish that I'm wondering about. The first two are 4 weeks old and the third one is 3 weeks. Are they looking like pullets or cockerels or too soon to tell? The first one is a smooth feather and the other two are frizzles .

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think the first one is a cockerel, second is a pullet. I can't tell about the third. Perhaps post another picture of that one from the side, especially the whole head.

 

[Strawberry74]

I think the first one is a cockerel, second is a pullet. I can't tell about the third. Perhaps post another picture of that one from the side, especially the whole head.

@ChickenCanoe Thanks for your response. Are you looking strictly at head Feathering? I'd love to know what exactly you are using as your indicator so I can learn. Here's another picture of each of them in the same order.

4 week old smooth

4 week old frizzle

3 week old frizzle

Anyone other polish chicken raisers out there with more experience than me? Most of the birds in that pen are Auto sexing because of my double-barred rooster and three barred hens. My frizzles the wild card here! From what I understand she can throw smooth or frizzled but they both only be single barred so out goes the auto sexing!

 

[Strawberry74]

@Slothinc

 

[Slothinc]

I definitely need to follow this as I have a bunch of single barred polish chicks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

@ChickenCanoe Thanks for your response. Are you looking strictly at head Feathering? I'd love to know what exactly you are using as your indicator so I can learn. Here's another picture of each of them in the same order.

4 week old smooth
View attachment 4099313

4 week old frizzle
View attachment 4099314

3 week old frizzle
View attachment 4099315

Anyone other polish chicken raisers out there with more experience than me? Most of the birds in that pen are Auto sexing because of my double-barred rooster and three barred hens. My frizzles the wild card here! From what I understand she can throw smooth or frizzled but they both only be single barred so out goes the auto sexing!

You can't really go by anything else at that age. Wing and tail feathers don't differentiate male vs. female until nearly mature. The frizzle gene makes it tougher. Non-frizzled Polish are easy to identify by their head feathers at an early age. Males have the appearance of a 'bad hair day' while pullets appear as meticulously coiffed. At this age, a few breeds can be sexed by the girth and length of legs compared to same age birds of the same breed and variety.

 

[Strawberry74]

You can't really go by anything else at that age. Wing and tail feathers don't differentiate male vs. female until nearly mature. The frizzle gene makes it tougher. Non-frizzled Polish are easy to identify by their head feathers at an early age. Males have the appearance of a 'bad hair day' while pullets appear as meticulously coiffed. At this age, a few breeds can be sexed by the girth and length of legs compared to same age birds of the same breed and variety.

Gotcha! So are you still thinking 1 and 1? What about the younger one?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I recommend patience. Some breeds are just harder to discern than others at an early age. The frizzle gene doesn't help.

 

[Strawberry74]

I recommend patience. Some breeds are just harder to discern than others at an early age. The frizzle gene doesn't help.

Ok thanks for your help. I am concerned they are all boys and should rehome before I know for sure but I really want a candy corn frizzle hen which is why the are still here. I don't want to set up another bachelor pen if I don't have to, but will if necessary. We shall see.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't want to offend, and I only had polish for a couple years because of their vulnerability to aerial predators. But in the end, even though they weren't frizzles allowing early gender identification, all the extra boys tasted just like chicken.