Sexing my 4 day old chicks

[MaranOwner123]

Both genders of Legbar have a little crest (tuft of feathers) behind the comb. It's usually more obvious on the females, but the males have a little one too.

And that comb is big enough and red enough to mean cockerel, given that he's only 4 1/2 weeks old.


You can start now, depending on how you do the introductions.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/
Here's an article about how one person introduces chicks, starting when they are quite young.

So you think that is is a cockerel? Thank you for the page about introducing chicks to big hens - I will start doing that soon!

 

[DavidReaves]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens! I've been lurking a while, but finally joined recently myself. I just hatched some Cream Legbars in May. I can definitely say you have a male. The first identifying point is the prominent white spot on yours.

A female does not have that spot, and the striped pattern goes all the way up her head. They also have a very prominent "eyeliner" stripe. This is a photo of one of my female chicks.

Also, the color pattern and crest are very different between males and females. This is one of my chicks at about 3 weeks. She's starting to develop a black only crest, and her feathers are coming in mostly grey with a hint of the adult salmon color. She still has a barring pattern, but not nearly as strong as your cockerel.

At seven weeks, my Cream Legbars have continued to develop larger crests and the feather colors are clearer. I don't have a photo of any of them currently, but I will get one today and post it for you.

 

[MaranOwner123]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens! I've been lurking a while, but finally joined recently myself. I just hatched some Cream Legbars in May. I can definitely say you have a male. The first identifying point is the prominent white spot on yours.

View attachment 3166696

A female does not have that spot, and the striped pattern goes all the way up her head. They also have a very prominent "eyeliner" stripe. This is a photo of one of my female chicks.

View attachment 3166707

Also, the color pattern and crest are very different between males and females. This is one of my chicks at about 3 weeks. She's starting to develop a black only crest, and her feathers are coming in mostly grey with a hint of the adult salmon color. She still has a barring pattern, but not nearly as strong as your cockerel.

View attachment 3166728

At seven weeks, my Cream Legbars have continued to develop larger crests and the feather colors are clearer. I don't have a photo of any of them currently, but I will get one today and post it for you.

Thank you so much for this - I’m am very exited that he is a cockerel as I don’t have one in my rollick yet so far!!

 

[MaranOwner123]

Thank you so much for this - I’m am very exited that he is a cockerel as I don’t have one in my rollick yet so far!!

Flock not rollick - autocorrect!