RIR sexing help?

[grayt]

Hi everyone! I'm a first-time chicken owner and have three 10-ish week old pullets.... hopefully. If anyone can offer some insight on my "girls" it would be greatly appreciated!

These were the three when I first got them. Two had the stripe on their head, one didn't. I know some people swear by that being a tell-tale sign, others are skeptic.


This is the one I'm most concerned about. Her name is Hedwig - she was one of the two with the head stripe. She's the biggest of the three and has the most developed/colored comb and wattle, even though I guess they're not /that/ big?




Here's the second biggest, Nuggets. Also had a head stripe.


And finally, Henny Penny. She's the smallest and friendliest, with the least comb/wattle development. Didn't have the head stripe. I'm not really concerned about her gender; I'm obviously no pro and please correct me if I'm wrong, but she looks like a pullet to me.



If other pictures/angles would help, just let me know! Thanks in advanced for the insight!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Here's a copy of a post that I made earlier today in My Coop Project thread. I hope it helps.


The Development of a Buff Orpington Cockerel

The breed in these images is the Buff Orpington, but the physical and behavioral traits presented could be applied to most any breed. The pictures should give you a focused impression of what to look for if you suspect there is a young cockerel developing in your lock.

Keep in mind, however, I am unfamiliar with the various Asian Breeds and their development traits.

The upper image is the cockerel, the lower image is the pullet. The cockerel's comb is ever so slightly more developed than the pullet. Until you develop an eye for what you are looking for in a very young cockerel, you almost need to be holding one in each hand to tell. Once you develop an eye for it though, the difference becomes readily apparent. There is also just a hint of redness beginning to appear in the cockerel's comb and pinkish red in the beginning of his wattles

Mostly, you will notice a fearlessness in the behavior of the cockerel. He will be the first to great you. He'll run right up to you, putting himself between you and the rest of the flock, as he did when the upper image was taken...then sorta give you a, "Why did I just do that?" kind of look. In the above images, they are at what I call the Raggamuffin Stage, about 4 to 5 weeks of age.

The lead bird in this image is the cockerel. His comb is redder and more developed than the pullets. 7 to 8 weeks in age.

In this image the cockerel again has the redder more developed comb at 8 to 9 weeks of age.

Once his hackles started coming in, it was pretty easy to tell which was the Cockerel. Also look at his tail feathers as compared to the pullets in this photo. They are right around 12 to 13 weeks in this image.

And the dead give away is when the Cockerel starts making weird raspy chortling noises as he is learning how to Crow. He is right around 13 to 14 weeks in this image.


...his name was Pecker, by the way.