sexing buff laced polish

[aran]

hi guys...as you may or may not remember we hatched out 4 silkies and 4 buff laced and 1 black/white crested polish about 3 weeks ago.
--> they are starting to feather up now...any way of telling at this stage which are the boys and girls?

 

[verthandi]

Pretty tough at the age they are right now on the Polish. At day old the wing tip feathers will be even on males and one long, one short on the females.

Keep an eye on the very top of their beaks, within the next two or three weeks the males will get really reddish on the fleshy part at the top of their beaks. (just before it mets their feathers and in front of where their comb will be if they develop one.) I will try to get a photo of what I am talking about tomorrow on one of mine that are slightly older than yours.

 

[aran]

fantastic thanks mate i would really appreciate it. Im wanting to sell off all but one of the roos and keep the pullets to add to our flock. Do you think a bearded silkie roo would be ok to keep also or not? The polish and silkies are going to live together in a separate coop/run from the non crested birds so they dont get picked on.

 

[jackiedon]

aran,

When their crest start to feather out the feathers of the females are rounder and the males are pointed. When they are little I've been told if the topnotch is round is female and oval shape is male.

I had 2 beautiful buff and a roo but something got tore into the pen and got one of the girls. We were going to show her in the fair too.

jackie

 

[aran]

sorry mate that sucks...we hatched out 4 bl polish and 1 silver laced polish and have no idea now that they are about 3 weeks old who is a boy and who is a girl...their little crests all look the same really.

 

[verthandi]

Pullet...don't let the wild top knot feathers fool you. I have even pulled some out to compare one chick to another. Notice that what little pink is on the top of her beak (cere) is light....most of the top of her beak is yellow. Small or no wattles at this point and they will lack color.

Pullet

Cockerel. Even if yours do not have combs, the cere will start getting bright pink/red at about 4 or 5 weeks. This is the fleshy part right in front of the comb. Wattles grow quicker also and are pinker than the pullets. LOL...nice shot of chicken starter feed under fingernail.

These chicks will be 7 weeks old tuesday.

 

[verthandi]

I have only had polish in the past, but I hatched some showgirls this summer. I might try to mix them with my polish...time will tell. Kind of nervous about it to tell you the truth.

 

[aran]

mate awesome pics! Its hard to believe that my lil boys and gals will have crests that large within the next 3-4 weeks! They hatched out July 24th so that makes them what about 3 weeks old or so now. Their little crests are looking pretty sparse now as they start to feather out. They had really fat fuzzy little crests when they first hatched but now they are kind of sad looking LOL

 

[verthandi]

You're welcome...you would have died laughing seeing me get those shots. I had to lay them upside down in my lap then pick up their head with one hand and shoot pictures with the others.

Just keep looking for that reddness to start, so far mine have all been males that had that first. I'm pretty sure it started between 4 and 5 weeks.

Crest are variable, I have seen some really small ones. I was very lucky with the first three I bought had huge umbrella crests and all my chicks have too. So there was very little difference in the shape of the crest until they start sprouting the long crest feathers at about 10 weeks...then they look some ratty for a while.

 

[aran]

I really appreciate the effort you obviously went to to get those pics! LOL
I put the lil guys and gals outside in the grow out coop/run adjacent to the big girls and boys last night. They seem to have been fine overnight and today are out enjoying their run. I even gave them a big slice of watermelon to enjoy!
Polish are so freakin cute its ridiculous...im hoping that out of my 4 buffs and one Silver laced that I get a male BL polish and at least 1 or 2 pullets.