Polish gender questions, please! *UPDATED with lots of pics!*

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

This is a tough one! Penny, one of my buff Polish, is 23 weeks, hasn't crowed, has had just the slightest dark pink tinge around the beak for a few weeks now, but no actual wattles. His/her tail feathers are making me wonder a bit though. I also have a buff Polish about 6 weeks older than Penny who is definitely a pullet and has no pink or red in the wattle area at all, and then a white crested black Polish (95% sure pullet) that is the same age as Penny with red, developed wattles. Those other two have very wide, rounded tail feathers that just ever so slightly curve at the end. Penny's tail feathers are just a bit more narrow, and the top ones are a little longer and curve more. Honestly, the crest could probably go either way, and the saddle and hackle feathers don't look much different than my other Polish. I will post some pictures tomorrow. I know Polish take much longer to develop than other breeds, and I realize that development varies from individual to individual, but it seems like it should be more obvious by 23 weeks, no? Could anybody possibly post pictures of confirmed sex Polish, especially buff laced, around this age? Some tail pictures would be great, too!

 

[Daisygirl]

If Penny starts laying then I spose it would answer the question for itself. Most here identify from pictures, so add some if you can and put it in the topic line. Otherwise, it's a bit of a guessing game.
Found this on the pics of the different genders; https://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/polish/24462

 

[becky3086]

Yeah, no tellling without pictures.

Most of the time you can tell by the crest though. A more rounded, uniform crest is a girl, spiky crest is a boy.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Thanks for the responses but like I said, the crest can go either way on Penny and I guarantee once I post pics I'll get half "male" responses, and half "female" responses. It's neither a round afro nor spikey, and I've seen photos of both pullets and cockerels with the same shaped crest as this. As far as egg laying, I'm not sure how I'll tell if Penny starts because I have two other birds around the same age that will lay the same size and color egg. I forgot to add that Penny is a hatchery sexed pullet, and they seem to have gotten the other three correct. I'm more or less looking for pictures of confirmed sex buff Polish at this age, tail shots of confirmed sex Polish, and answers to the development question. Generally, should it be more obvious by the age of 23 weeks? Also, when do Polish cockerels generally start to develop those very stringy saddle and hackle feathers? When would a tail be an obvious indicator of gender in a Polish? In other words, at this age how curved should a cockerel's tail be?

 

[High Roost Ranch]

Quote:
Ditto, that's exactly what I was going to say as well. Look at the crest.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

At the risk of sounding rude, If it were that obvious on this bird I wouldn't be posting about it. I'm aware that sometimes a crest will give it away. Penny is not my first or only crested chicken. Does anybody have answers to the questions I asked?

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I have no definite answer, but my own experience. I got the Rainbow Pullet Special and out of 5 polish, I have one Rooster. At 4 weeks old he had pink-ish comb and wattles. Now at 11 weeks they are so much more pronounced than the other four. I would not say his crest is round but not spikey either.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Welllllllllllllllllllllll, I'll have to agree with the others.

No pics makes it hard to imagine what exactly you're describing, but I'll take a stab at it.

My Polish are approx. 7 months old now and there's no question on gender. But I can tell you that when they were younger I had my doubts on one SL that turned out to be a hen. But crest feathering was VERY spikey....needless to say, this was an experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone else.

Tough few weeks, especially when it came to picking a name.

At an age of between 4-5 months and no crowing, it could go either way of course. There are early crowers and late ones. But I've had hens with that pinkish face even at that age. As you've mentioned, it depends on the bird in question. All individuals will have their strong or dull features. Tail feathers can sometimes have an arc in hens, too. Juvinile (sp?) feathers.

Out of 3 Polish hens, that same SL is the ONLY one with a pink face, and is 100% pullet. She actually started developing wattles approx. 2 months ago. But the other two still have no redness whatsoever. For your sake, I think other people posting pics is a bad idea. It would only show more that the breed is so diverse and I think pictures would confuse you.

You'd be surprised at who is who in some cases. Small crest, large crest, pointy feathers, dull feathers, facial redness, pale faces, droopy tail, upward tail, spurs, no spurs...........It also depends on where the bird is from. Different lines result in different shapes, sizes, and colors.

Hackles and saddle feathers will develop when feathering becomes that of an adult's. Can be any rage of time depending on the bird themself. It's usually easier to tell the boys from the girls than the girls from the boys.

I totally understand where you're coming from. Try to remember that hatchery-sexed birds are USUALLY right. Not always. But I'd love to see pictures when you can get them.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Thanks, guys. By the time I came home from work they were all in bed, so I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

PolishPrincess, the reason I want to see pictures of other birds is to see if there are pullets with these features. I don't think it's possible to be more confused at this point haha. I fully understand that it could absolutely go either way and the only 100% certain way of knowing is to wait it out, which is fine. I just get a little annoyed when people say "Duh, just look at the crest!" because, as you also know, in many cases it's completely inaccurate to sex that way and can be pretty impossible to even guess. I've seen cockerels with poofy, rounded crests and mature hens with messy, wild crests.

I'm just hoping that the lack of male features means that Penny is a pullet and not just a late bloomer :-/ As far as the mature feathers, when are we generally talking, a year? That's not something a 5 month old cockerel would commonly develop, is it?

 

[becky3086]

Quote:
Sorry to have irritated you by trying to help. I was not trying to say you were stupid in any way. I can most always tell by the crest, but I certainly cannot tell by just a description. I do think buff laced are harder to tell but with my buff laced, the roo is definitely a darker color than the hens.

Hen

Sorry I do not have pictures at 23 weeks.