Roo or Hen?

[Roueyrooster]

So I have 6 black and mixed breed chicks. 3.5 weeks. 3 have sprouted little combs, and some waddles. A few have black pea combs. 1 has no tail feathers and his slow to feather. Because they are all mixed I can’t compare them to each other. So I’d love to hear your guesses.

possible breeds that could be mixed in:
Black orpington
EE
OE
Barred rock
Cochin
Wyandotte
Ameracauna

what do you think on breed and sex?

 

[M Brennen]

I am still struggling with the sex of my birds at 7 weeks, so I am no help there. The first two look like my barred rocks. I don’t know any of the others.

 

[Roueyrooster]

Ok thanks!

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

1. Plymouth mix
2. Plymouth/Wyandotte/Cochin mix
3/4/5/6 Wyandotte and/or Oprington mix

1, 2 and 3 would be my guesses for cockerels, it's still a little early to be 1000% sure though : )

 

[Roueyrooster]

1. Plymouth mix
2. Plymouth/Wyandotte/Cochin mix
3/4/5/6 Wyandotte and/or Oprington mix

1, 2 and 3 would be my guesses for cockerels, it's still a little early to be 1000% sure though : )

many particular reasoning behind it?

 

[BGcoop]

Based on comb size and coloring I also would bet on 2&3 being boys, but it’s very early yet, so I wouldn’t bet a lot. I had marked mine this spring at about That age what my guesses were and I was wrong on at least three of twelve.

 

[21henmom]

Got four "hens" that were all supposed to be Polish. After a few weeks I was sure I only had one Polish. At about 3 weeks there started to be a greater size difference between the two that wound up being roosters! A at about 5 weeks they started making strange noises that turned out to be early crows!

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

many particular reasoning behind it?

1. I say Plymouth because of the barring, unless they had other breeds in the Barred variety.
2. Has a rose comb so I believe part Wyandotte, probably part Cochin because of the feathered legs but this makes me think they have a barred Cochin cause this little ones barred
3+ some have rose combs like a Wyandotte, other are hard to see, I see no feathered leg so likely no Cochin in here, none of these chicks have beards so at the very least the parent birds have either no beard (like Cochin/Wyandotte or bad EE/OE) or the OE/EE parents only had one gene for beard and you got unlucky :/did you hatch them? Were any eggs blue/green/olive? I don't see any of the fun EE/OE colors or leakage although depending on which one the rooster was, black can be a pretty strong gene sometimes

I think those ones are probably cockerels due to comb size and redness :'(

 

[Roueyrooster]

Based on comb size and coloring I also would bet on 2&3 being boys, but it’s very early yet, so I wouldn’t bet a lot. I had marked mine this spring at about That age what my guesses were and I was wrong on at least three of twelve.

 

[Roueyrooster]

1. I say Plymouth because of the barring, unless they had other breeds in the Barred variety.
2. Has a rose comb so I believe part Wyandotte, probably part Cochin because of the feathered legs but this makes me think they have a barred Cochin cause this little ones barred
3+ some have rose combs like a Wyandotte, other are hard to see, I see no feathered leg so likely no Cochin in here, none of these chicks have beards so at the very least the parent birds have either no beard (like Cochin/Wyandotte or bad EE/OE) or the OE/EE parents only had one gene for beard and you got unlucky :/did you hatch them? Were any eggs blue/green/olive? I don't see any of the fun EE/OE colors or leakage although depending on which one the rooster was, black can be a pretty strong gene sometimes

I think those ones are probably cockerels due to comb size and redness :'(

thanks for your insights. Combs are still a mystery to me as far as breeds. I only know single comb or a flat one. One of them did come from a green/olive egg. I thought for sure it was 1 or 2, but clearly I’m wrong.

Number 1 we were thinking was a roo from day 1 but now his/comb and waddles are not as pronounced. 2 and 3 do have a curious shade of pink though don’t they? I have 20 birds total so I can’t accommodate 3 roos. Maybe 2 if they neighbors don’t complain. Lol. But I’m not sure I even want 1.
Plus 1&2 are in the house so I’m super attached to them.