Roo confirmation before I accidently send a pullet to the farm

[jenn-]

... and I mean literally a farm with some 70 other free ranging chickens. They are both 14ish wks old and neither are crowing.

My EE, I am 99.9% sure








My "your guess is as good as mine", I'm 97% sure

 

[sourland]

I believe that both birds are cockerels.

 

[GitaBooks]

The Easter Egger does look like a rooster, however, I can't be sure about the black one. If he/she is an australorp it could be a pullet.

 

[junebuggena]

The Easter Egger is a cockerel. The black one is not an Australorp, but is a cockerel. The male saddle feathers are just starting show themselves.

 

[jenn-]

The Easter Egger does look like a rooster, however, I can't be sure about the black one. If he/she is an australorp it could be a pullet.

The Easter Egger is a cockerel. The black one is not an Australorp, but is a cockerel. The male saddle feathers are just starting show themselves.

The black one is a mix. One of my girls from the same breeder is an Australorp. The one in question has the green shine of the Australorp with some brown feathering coming in (hence him/her being a mix).

 

[jenn-]

Here is a better shot of the colors. I was having to hold him on the top of the ladder after an escape attempt (hence the funny pose).

 

[keesmom]

Both are cockerels.

 

[jenn-]

Thanks for the replies so far. The only thing that has continued to perplex me is the fairly light pink comb on Sir Coco (the black one). Do some breeds just have roos with lighter color? I've wondered what a poor quality black copper maran and an Australorp would look like. I have another hen that is supposedly a bcm, but people here say no way. They guessed black sex link, but the breeder didn't advertise those. My guess is that she has too many different roos shacking up with too many different ladies and she just guesses what they are supposed to be.

 

[drumstick diva]

I think both boys as well - sorry.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay...I'm going to differ with the others.

The EE is definitely a rooster...red bars on wings, dead give away. Give him away.

Now the black one. It's a mix. I find they can develop quickly with hybrid vigor and have personally given away fast developing barnyard mix pullet convinced it was going to be a roo, and SHE laid at 14 weeks (checked my dates twice)...gave her to my daughter's farm...best layer she had. I get chided about that periodically, so I wait a bit longer with barnyard mixes because you've got a lot of genes that don't "follow the rules" developmentally.

I'm not seeing clear "saddles" starting...they look a little pointy, maybe, in the 3rd photo, but are not clear cut being male...yet. I'm seeing a lot of round feathers right now, and a nice round tail.

Being a mix of Australorp and potentially BCM, you could get a girl looking just about like that with a precocious comb who may begin to lay in a couple of weeks...one of my BCM's developed fast and laid early too....and had some "mossy back," red on her back and wings which worried me. The black one does not have clear wing bars, yet, and I've had plenty barnyard mixes with somewhat male-ish patterns which evened out as they went through a final juvenile molt.

Unless you've got a real problem keeping the black one for a little longer, I personally would hold off giving it away. She may turn into your best layer. You should know within a month. She'll either start laying, or those saddles will get pointy, the red bars will deepen, and crowing may come.

LofMc