sexing 7-8 week old french blue copper marans

[KaziCritter]

i just got a pair of blue copper marans from someone who thought they were boys and didnt want any males. but after looking them over i can tell 1 is definitely male but the other looks a lot more like a girl. these are my first marans, but ive raised birds with both large and small combs and the one in question is similar to how my larger combed hens were around that age. these are from a breeder according to the last owners and the breeder they named uses birds from known lines or at least says they do on their website, so they are not hatchery quality (nothing against hatchery birds, the rest of my flock is hatchery bred).

was hoping to get a more informed answer or at least idea on the gender. will be happy either way but would just like to know which to expect.

they are a bit skittish and wont let me get real close for good pics but i was able to check the feathering and such on both for comparison. the boy has the pointed hackle and saddle feathers starting, the other one has rounded feathers not pointed. legs are the same size, only difference there is how much feathering, the possible girl has about half as much as the boy. and not sure if its helpful but watched the boy face down one of my hens through the fence who was a bit too interested in the second chick, hen is about 3 times his size.

 

[SIMZ]

Leg feathering can vary from individual chickens and doesn't depend on sex at all.

I'd say they're both males just based on the visible wattles. The one is certainly a little more mature, but females usually aren't showing wattle and comb development at that age - but males do.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. lol

 

[KaziCritter]

im fine with it being either boy or girl, just dont really like not knowing. the one with the big bright red comb and wattles is definitely a boy, has the feathers coming in, is trying to crow, and spent the day acting like all the hens should be bowing to him.

one thing is odd, i looked back at some photos of my adult birds around that age and they were all much more feathered and developed (their photos of 4-5 weeks match this pair for feathering but they were about 1/3 or 1/2 the size). these 2 still havent gotten their actual tails in and a fair amount is still fluff even though they are huge. and by 8 weeks just about all my current girls had combs and wattles to match or excede that chick, some exceded the boy's. admittidly none of my others are marans but i have about 8 or 10 different breeds out there to compare to. just not making much sense to me i guess.

 

[KaziCritter]

took another look through the photos i was able to get and found couple that might be better. one with a full body side shot of the chick and one with then next to each other giving a good view of both their heads for comparison. dont know if these would help any but couldnt hurt.

 

[junebuggena]

Both cockerels. One is just a bit slower to develop than the other.

 

[Hensndoes]

Hey I'm in the same boat! Just a week behind. I hope you post more pics! At 6 weeks now I watched my 1 guaranteed male mount his cream legbar roommate. He has the pointy hackles and copper coming through on the wing bows. The other maran from same breeder has none yet. Are you looking to breed? I may have to pick one of mine to rehome soon and hoping he's worthy of more than stew to someone.

 

[SIMZ]

That first picture of the ones you just added shows them both being cockerels! Handsome and nice feathered legs, too!

 

[KaziCritter]

managed to get a lot of better photos today, waiting on them transferring to my computer for resizing and sorting before i can post any of them. got what i think might be good photos of the head, back, side, and saddle area.

the one that crowing spent a good while trying to challenge my largest hen (a white rock) through the pen i have the chicks in during the day. spending an hour tracking them down and chasing them in the dark is more then enough so until they get settled in its indoor tub at night and outdoor pen during the day.

got my hands on them enough today as well to check feathers a bit better. the big boy has a good deal of copper in his neck (all nicely pointed) and has it coming in the saddle region (also nicely pointed). the other only has more feathers coming in with some copper in the neck (all rounded) and only dark grey in the saddle area (also all rounded or square ended).

 

[junebuggena]

The pointed, male specific hackle and saddle feathers usually don't begin to develop until about 10 weeks of age, and can take many more weeks to be clearly visible.
6 weeks is too young to sex by feather shape.

 

[KaziCritter]

Hey I'm in the same boat! Just a week behind. I hope you post more pics! At 6 weeks now I watched my 1 guaranteed male mount his cream legbar roommate. He has the pointy hackles and copper coming through on the wing bows. The other maran from same breeder has none yet. Are you looking to breed? I may have to pick one of mine to rehome soon and hoping he's worthy of more than stew to someone.

having a pair to breed would be nice, but seeing as i got this pair free its ok if both are boys. sad to say but i have a bad track record with keep roosters, had one commit suicide, several either run away or get caught by the local hawk and carried off, a few died of mysterious causes (healthy at bed time and dead by morning).

which breeder did yours come from? and with how nice this pair is, if you are near me id gladly take any you had to rehome.