Sexing Americanas

[saghareggs]

We got 8 Americana pullets from a local farm store. They are 10 weeks old. Two of them, pictured below have MUCH redder combs than the other six. Are these ones actually Roos? Or is it just that because americanas are mixed breeds they can have different comb development?

 

[chrissynemetz]

The white one is definitely a cockerel. Can you try to get another picture or two of the brown one?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

What you have are Easter Eggers. There is no Americana (with an "I"). That is a made up name feed stores give to birds that they want people to assume or at least link to actually pure Ameraucanas.

You have 2 males. The combs are very fleshy and red for 10 weeks. The left bird has red wing bows. Black and white is very frequently a male color, and if you note, it has blotchy coloring indicating male as well.

LofMc

 

[saghareggs]

What you have are Easter Eggers. There is no Americana (with an "I"). That is a made up name feed stores give to birds that they want people to assume or at least link to actually pure Ameraucanas.

You have 2 males. The combs are very fleshy and red for 10 weeks. The left bird has red wing bows. Black and white is very frequently a male color, and if you note, it has blotchy coloring indicating male as well.

LofMc

Thanks for the information!! I have another "Easter Egger" question. This is a six week old (supposed to be pullet). Her comb looks kind of red to me. Do you think it's a pullet? THANKS!

 

[TheOddOneOut]

We got 8 Americana pullets from a local farm store. They are 10 weeks old. Two of them, pictured below have MUCH redder combs than the other six. Are these ones actually Roos? Or is it just that because americanas are mixed breeds they can have different comb development?

Oh, boy. Yup, they are!

 

[TheOddOneOut]

What you have are Easter Eggers. There is no Americana (with an "I"). That is a made up name feed stores give to birds that they want people to assume or at least link to actually pure Ameraucanas.

You have 2 males. The combs are very fleshy and red for 10 weeks. The left bird has red wing bows. Black and white is very frequently a male color, and if you note, it has blotchy coloring indicating male as well.

LofMc

X2, Easter Eggers.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

For the 3rd bird....
At 10 weeks, I'm not worried at the slight rose in the comb. That is a rosecomb, by the way, not a pea comb. At least it looks like it on close up zoom (from photo 3).

A pea comb will be a line of 3 pea rows, think ::: often with the middle pea row a bit higher than the border pea rows. Some believe that 3 distinct pea rows means rooster while a main middle pea row, with very small hedge rows, means female, however there are enough exceptions to prevent that from being a solid determination.

At the juvenile stage, a rose comb looks like an upside down U like a horseshoe with the luck running down the beak. Rose combs tend to flush with activity. Male rose combs get quite fleshy, filling in the indent, earlier, and redder. Female rose combs will stay flat, indented, longer, until point of lay, and flush pink with activity but return to paler colors upon rest.

So I think you have a pullet. Her coloring is even. No red bars on wings. Her comb, while to my photo eye is rose comb, is small and only a bit rosy.

She however would not be an Easter Egger most likely. What she is could be a factory "oops" or possibly a game type. If you breed a pea combed Easter Egger (originally derived from Ameraucanas, which were very expensive birds originally, thus watered down through mixing with layers to produce EEs), to a rose comb bird, you get a cushion comb, which she doesn't have. Thus I doubt she has any EE in her, but it is possible if the EE line was very sloppy and had enough comb variations. Be aware that if you desire blue-green eggs, the further away you get from Ameraucana genetics, unless lines are carefully controlled following the blue shell gene, the less likely the blue shell gene passed. The pea comb is linked with the blue shell gene, so if Ameraucana is in the past, and the bird has a pea comb, it is greater likelihood that the blue shell gene passed to, in EE's.

It is quite possible she is a Game mix, possibly Old English Game, especially if she is just a bit smaller and lighter than the others. Though she doesn't have a true game profile, usually their wing line dips below their body, she does appear more "hawkish" than the typical layer. Games have green legs as well as many EEs.

If you aren't that concerned with egg color, or breeding forward, she will be a jaunty little lady that you will enjoy for her beauty and charm.

My thoughts.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

She honestly reminds me of a Silver Campine, but her comb type is wrong.

Her leg color also looks grey in a number of the photos and only green in the overly warm photos.

Her stance is wrong for most Games, so she is a mystery to me.

Pretty little girl though
LofMc