I bought a bunch of chicks from the feed store who are about 4 weeks old now and they told me they were ameracaunas and I am not sure if they are boys or girls. They have slight yellow combs (a little bigger than I am accustomed to with my other breeds) and long tail feathers. They told me they were all hens but I am just concerned as they are all so beautiful already and I relate that to roos not hens. Also the RIR's hens they sold me have suspiciously big combs for their age and long tail feathers so I am hoping that they are not roos also as they told me that they were hens also. Can anybody enlighten me on this as I have never had purebred ameracaunas before and am unsure how to distinguish the early sign of roos. Thanks.
Look for a wide comb. The girls will have a thin comb with just the center line-boys combs will be very wide with the three rows of little knobs showing. Look at these of mine-they are almost 8 weeks old now, but these are earlier pics. First is a pullet, second is a cockerel: Now, here are the same chicks a bit later on:
I don't know much about combs, but my only americauna chick was HUGE. She was always bigger than all the other chicks, grew faster, etc. Now that they are almost 4 months old she has fallen behind and is smaller than all of them! It was amazing- she just grew like a weed until about 3 months old and then stopped. The other chicks kept on going... now they are much, much bigger (and fatter) then her. I was worried because of this ridiculous growth rate that she was a rooster. Not so. She is a hen- at 11 weeks she still has a yellowy-pink comb, small legs and feet, no wattles, and a very shy temperament. -MTchick
Nuts! My EE chick has a wide comb with 3 rows of bumps! Oh well, I just hope at least 2 of my chicks are girls.
What MTchick said--Ameraucanas are BIG chicks. They beat up on my Cochin roos if they feel the boys are getting out of line. When my Ameraucanas were chicks, even at only a few days old, they would clear themselves a path to the feeder by waiting for the other breed chicks to crowd up in a bunch, then run as fast as they could at the chickpile to crash the rest apart like little fuzzy bowling pins. I had to separate the Cochins for a while until they caught up in size, and at 10 weeks they are still not completely caught up.
Well I looked at the combs and they are thicker than the other breeds I have but none of them have more than one line of bumps so fingers are crossed and hoping for the best. Now I just have to see about those RIR's. I really think they are roos and I will have to talk to the feed store about that and see what they say. Thanks.