Salmon Faverolles 3 weeks old: Could it be a roo? That's what I initially thought

[dretd]

I still think girl. This is Soleil, my HQ pullet I mentioned. As you can see she has quite a bit of black in her beard. I think she was about 3 months old in this picture. You can also see that there are some black tips to her body feathers, there are more of these on her back, out of view. She did become more standard-colored after her first big molt as a hen.

In my mind, jtallant's photo shows a greyish brown, not greyish black to the primaries, which are usually a darker mahogany or brown color.

 

[fuzziecreatures]

Here is one of my hatchery favs on a log at ~12 weeks old


And same bird 4-6 weeks later



All pullet, I swore she was a slow maturing cockerel

 

[jtallant]

Here is one of my hatchery favs on a log at ~12 weeks old


And same bird 4-6 weeks later



All pullet, I swore she was a slow maturing cockerel

Pretty! S/he has even more brown today so I am thinking that it is a pullet, but the breast feathers are still all yellow so maybe by Friday at 4 weeks there will more change enough to take some more pics. Next time, I'm hoping to get SF from a breeder so that this is easier than with a hatchery bird!

 

[jtallant]

I still think girl. This is Soleil, my HQ pullet I mentioned. As you can see she has quite a bit of black in her beard. I think she was about 3 months old in this picture. You can also see that there are some black tips to her body feathers, there are more of these on her back, out of view. She did become more standard-colored after her first big molt as a hen.

In my mind, jtallant's photo shows a greyish brown, not greyish black to the primaries, which are usually a darker mahogany or brown color.

Wow, she does have a lot of black in her beard. That would've REALLY thrown me.

 

[keesmom]

Wow, she does have a lot of black in her beard. That would've REALLY thrown me.

I've seen pictures of hatchery pullets even worse than that. Not just black beards, but part black bodies. Yours is a pullet.

Breeder chicks can be easier.

 

[Chesterchook]

FYI the wing method only works with the first four days

 

[jtallant]

FYI the wing method only works with the first four days

For feather sexing, yes, but for Salmon Faverolles the black primaries coming in at 2 weeks is *usually* an indication of a male (which is what I thought when they starting coming in on my chick), but as I am finding out through all the help here that the hatchery bred chicks don't always follow this pattern and some have black even in the beards, etc. My little chick started with black primaries but then all the brown/salmon color starting coming in all over, now thinking pullet.