Pullet or cockeral ?

[Sierra pachie bars]

Might be to early to tell . Five weeks old Cochin/Amerucana mix. I am thinking Pullet.

 

[bigzio]

Pullet or cockeral? Kinda looks like a pullet to me. The tail feathers that grow in the fastest are the pullets for sure. If you don't have any to compare, that would be a good general way of being able to tell in a small flock situation.

bigzio

 

[sandypaws]

to young for ME to tell..... if someone else knows how.. teach me/us

 

[mikarod]

Looks like a pullet to me!

 

[klf73]

looks like a pullet to me too, love those green feathered legs

 

[Guitartists]

5 weeks is awful early I think..... but, if it's a pea comb and it doesn't get noticeably redder by 8 weeks then I would say pullet.

 

[redoak]

Pretty little chick, not sure about sex.

 

[onthespot]

not to be a buzzkill or anything, but why do people have to know the sex of chicks before it is obvous? Are they just curious, anxious or making culling/future flock building plans? It seems just waiting a few more weeks would ususally tell you everything you need to know.

About the long tails... I have two marans chicks with red combs and long tails. The combs say cockerel, the tails say pullet. In a few more weeks they will either grow hackle feathers or not.

 

[mikarod]

Quote:
It's just like incubating...we all want to know what's in the eggs before they hatch and we sit there and sit there...and KNOW they won't hatch until they're ready...LOL

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I knew my two roosters that I ordered because I'd asked the hatchery to mark them when I placed my order.
It was necessary for me to know if there were any other roos - and there were 3 more! - so that I could find them a good home at a very early age. After I knew they were roos and that I couldn't keep them I wanted them gone asap #1 So I wouldn't get too attached #2 because they were taking up valuable space #3 because I was having to feed birds I wasn't keeping. Better to put limited resources into chickens you intend to raise and not into chickens that you don't intend to keep.
As for sexing them, I didn't just look at their tails. I picked my cockerels out by their bigger pinker combs, thicker legs, slower feathering and by the shape of the tail feathers:

According to UC Davis Veterinary Care Program.
2. Physical Characteristics (4-6 weeks of age)
a. Comb – The cockerels comb is medium size and pinkish, the pullets is small and yellowish.
b. Legs – The cockerel’s legs are sturdy and long, the pullets are finer and shorter.
c. Tail – The cockerel’s tail is stumpy and curved, the pullets is longer and straight.
d. Back – The cockerel has a thin line of stub feathers down the center of his back, the pullet has more advanced feathering along the center of her back.
e. Side of neck, flank and crop – The feathering in the cockerel in these areas is poorly advanced, the pullets feathering in these areas is well advanced.
f. Wing bows – In the cockerel the wing bows are bare, in pullets the wing bows are covered with small feathers.

Hackle and sickle feathers come later.
Plus, around here it was much easier to find homes for 7 week olds while they were still in that cute stage, than it would have been with 17 week old half grown birds.