sexing cuckoo marans

[erin0415]

I just found out cuckoo marans can be sexed young. Is anyone able to tell me what my 2 less than 1 day old chicks are?? One has feathered feet, the other doesn't. I can take better pics tomorrow when there is natural light. Thanks!!!

The cuckoos are the 2 in the middle.

 

[klf73]

I was told a defined headspot was a pullet. In the bottom pic the one on the right has lighter markings on each side, my cockerals had that. If I had to guess on the other I might think cockeral too, but would really like to see them in better light. My cockerals looked like my 5 yo tried painting them and got the paint "smudged", and my pullets had pretty defined spots.
pullets(suspect top right "might" be a cockeral, still not sure)

cockerals(top one still isn't showing a big comb so not 100% sure there either, bottom 2 are definite cockerals)

LOL, guess I'm not much help

 

[kayjuggler]

I have some interesting Marans photos of chicks I hatched from Crunchie. When they first hatched, I had one very dark chick with a well defined white spot. The other two looked a lot alike and were lighter. But within a few days, it became clear that all three chicks looked very differnet. I have taken photos at two weeks and focused on wing feather development.

They are arranged darkest to lightest in this photo. Chick #1,2, and 3

In this photo, they are arranged as chick 1, 3, 2 with the lightest in the middle. Notice the difference in wing delvelopment

This is my darkest chick, lots of wing development, clear white head spot, not much lacing on the wings. May be an unusually dark female

Here is chick number 2 from first photo: very dark head but more grey....advanced wing development and pretty lacing.

Here is the lightest chick, #3 in first photo with very little feather development compared to other two chicks.
I will post the final verdict when they make their genders clear but I think # 1 and 2 are pullets and #3 is a cockerel. Hope this helps others with the same breed.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Are you sure those are Marans kayjuggler? They seem to have yellow legs and beaks? Marans should have white legs and beaks?

 

[Crunchie]

Yes, please tell me that is the photo and not how they look in real life?? I have never had any birds hatch with yellow legs/beak!!! I know it can ocassionally crop up, but with the lines I have I would have thought that was near impossible...and certainly wouldn't happen with 3 at one time!! I do have some clean-legged birds, so the fact that you got 3 w/no feathering is not impossible. Yellow legs though...that is decidedly uncool.

Back on topic, from the first photo I would say that kayjuggler's two on the left are pullets and the one on the right is a roo. OP, it looks to me like you have one pullet & one roo. I definitely have varying degrees of darkness in both the pullets and the little roos. Sometimes the little pullets are almost black, and sometimes the roos are an especially light silver. And sometimes they are close and confuse me.

They seem to even out a bit once they mature.

ETA: I just went back to some photos that kayjuggler emailed me of these same chicks, and in those photos the legs/beaks are definitely the correct color? Something must be off w/the color of these pics that you just posted. There is no way that my birds threw 3 chicks with fluourescent colored beaks/legs!!

 

[kayjuggler]

Crunchie,
I'll take photos in daylight tomorrow. Hopefully the tropical style rainstorms will let up a bit! We are swimming here in Southern Maryland.
Anyway, I don't pay too much attention to the standard so hadn't picked up on the feet color. I think those photos definitely add some yellow because the sunrrom walls are yellow and the heat lamp was on and gives off a glow. However, there is a definite variety in their leg color as well which does kind of show up in the first photo. I would say that the dark chick has gray legs, the second chick has yellow undertones with graying on top and the third chick has a dull yellow/pink color. Are the beaks supposed to be grey too? I'll definitely get some more photos.

 

[Crunchie]

You will get a bit of variance in shade--I often get some that have some dark grey on their legs, etc.--but they should definitely not have yellow legs like a barred rock. When they are adults, they should have a white-ish colored leg, and their beak should be a similar color. The legs of my young ones usually have a more flesh-colored look to them 'till they grow up. I can't quite describe it...I've got a chick out in the barn, I'll have to try to get a pic tomorrow or something (I might have to swim out there--this rain is ridiculous!!). I could see where you could maybe describe this flesh-colored look as having a very dull yellow undertone, though it usually looks more pink-ish to me. But I did go back to those photos that you emailed me, and the color of their legs/beaks in those photos is totally OK and normal--and very much not the yellow in the photos in this thread!

So I'm going to assume it is the lighting/background in those photos. Can you tell I was freaked out when I saw those photos of those chicks with yellow legs??! I would be horrified if someone hatched a chick from me with yellow legs!

I just dug through some photos, and here's a picture of a chick from a recent hatch--she is standing right in front of the brooder lamp, which is turned upwards and facing her. Her legs do look kinda yellowish! But I know for certain that they are not in person. They would be that flesh color that I was talking about.

And here's a pic of a hen in the pen that this chick (and yours, kayjuggler) was hatched from--you can see the leg/beak color (and the legs of the hen behind her). This is what they should look like when they are grown.

 

[Helle]

I got this five day old maran chick. Anyone have an idea whether it might be

a pullet or cockrell?

 

[donrae]

I got this five day old maran chick. Anyone have an idea whether it might be a pullet or cockrell?

I'm leaning cockerel.

Large, diffuse head spot, no dark wash on the legs.

Post again around 6ish weeks and let us know?

 

[Helle]

Eight weeks old today, and clearly a rooster, right?