sexing peachicks

[Lil Zoo]

Also on the java, the two I have fellow saying one was java but the other looks the same to me. They are not friendly chicks at all. They go crazy when I even open the cage door. I have held them given them watermelon, bits of tomatoes as treats. They will not take from my hand. Everytime I walk in the room they huddle in one corner. If I open kennel to feed, water or clean it scares me to death that they might break their little necks getting so carried away. The little IB I had wanted me to hold him. The pictures I have seen they are a gorgeous birds and so are the hens, I just wish they were calmer. Sounds like it is not recommended to keep them with IB and other color chicks either as they get agressive with other breeds.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Autumnfisher
As many B/S (or are they blue shoulders?) chicks that I've hatched the past 3 years and watched them mature to breeding aged adults this year,I can sex mine at 3-4 weeks with 100% accuracy,,it's not a guess or rocket science,,,it's those special all blue or all black feathers that comes in all at once(can ya see um?) is the dead give away to the trained eye,,and if anyone here doesn't believe me,,I hatched 3 Opal B/S chicks 4 days apart,,,2 hens hatched out together in my very first hatch of the season on May 20th,,the male hatched May 24th,,,the hens were the first two eggs laid this season,,and the next Opal B/S chick hatched 4 days later is now easily proven to be a male and ithey're only just over 2 months old.I knew before the end of June what sex they were.
When I'm "quoted" here,,I will back up my statement with proof,as I've done before,,maybe some people only raise 1-2 black-blue shouldered peas each year,,I've hatched over 30 black shouldered chicks so far this summer and maybe 20 total the previous 2 years and when you have several to compare side by side the same age or seperated only by a few days in age it's much easier to notice variances in markings as well as coloring.Autumnfisher,,I'm going on the pic you posted and not actually being able to handle the chick,see every feather it has, to know exactly,,,but I will say males develope much more color sooner than same colored b/s hens,,and this too I could prove with pics of my 3 Opal b/s chicks now just 2 months old.These changes are noticable to me at about 3 weeks.My peas are not pets,,but I spend considerable time studying them noticing subtle changes and making notations about it for when it's wingbanding time.

edited by staff

 

[autumnmfisher]

Autumnfisher
As many B/S (or are they blue shoulders?) chicks that I've hatched the past 3 years and watched them mature to breeding aged adults this year,I can sex mine at 3-4 weeks with 100% accuracy,,it's not a guess or rocket science,,,it's those special all blue or all black feathers that comes in all at once(can ya see um?) is the dead give away to the trained eye,,and if anyone here doesn't believe me,,I hatched 3 Opal B/S chicks 4 days apart,,,2 hens hatched out together in my very first hatch of the season on May 20th,,the male hatched May 24th,,,the hens were the first two eggs laid this season,,and the next Opal B/S chick hatched 4 days later is now easily proven to be a male and ithey're only just over 2 months old.I knew before the end of June what sex they were.
When I'm "quoted" here,,I will back up my statement with proof,as I've done before,,maybe some people only raise 1-2 black-blue shouldered peas each year,,I've hatched over 30 black shouldered chicks so far this summer and maybe 20 total the previous 2 years and when you have several to compare side by side the same age or seperated only by a few days in age it's much easier to notice variances in markings as well as coloring.Autumnfisher,,I'm going on the pic you posted and not actually being able to handle the chick,see every feather it has, to know exactly,,,but I will say males develope much more color sooner than same colored b/s hens,,and this too I could prove with pics of my 3 Opal b/s chicks now just 2 months old.These changes are noticable to me at about 3 weeks.My peas are not pets,,but I spend considerable time studying them noticing subtle changes and making notations about it for when it's wingbanding time.

ok i wasn't triing to offend you with my guessing and not knowingness, last thing i said to you was thank you, you seem mad that i still don't know how to tell. calm down. i trust your knowledge, you have experience, these are my first peas, its a guessing and waiting game to me. i don't have a trained eye like you. i have no idea. im not triing contradicting you. just making my own unexperienced guesses.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Autumnfisher,,not mad at you at all here,,and not offended in the least by anything you have said here,,,check your PM box for an explanation please?

 

[NateinFL]

ok i wasn't triing to offend you with my guessing and not knowingness, last thing i said to you was thank you, you seem mad that i still don't know how to tell. calm down. i trust your knowledge, you have experience, these are my first peas, its a guessing and waiting game to me. i don't have a trained eye like you. i have no idea. im not triing contradicting you. just making my own unexperienced guesses.

Some times you have to ignore people.

And so you are not misinformed, solid blue feathers do not come in on a peachick at the age of 3-4 weeks old. It's usually when they are a couple months old. Edit: A minimum of several months but certainly not 3-4 weeks old.

edited to remove flaming

 

[country_girl011]

my oldest 2 are 2 months old and are just starting to get green tint to some of their feathers.
so that should give you an idea of just how old they will be when they get color.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

It's good to remember how hard it is to get the "tone" of someone's post, when all you have is words on a screen (not like in person where real tone of voice and face convey so much!).
I would have to say that ALL of the peapeople I've encountered here are extremely helpful and don't intend any offense to anyone, and don't get angry with other peapeople over small matters, so I think it's a good idea not to assume the contrary without a lot of evidence!

*edited: just want to make it clear that I'm not commenting on any individual, just like to keep things friendly here.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Autumnfisher,,the myth about all blue or all black feahers coming in on black shouldered peachicks must be a regional anomally only occuring in some areas of the USA. And as a matter of fact,I have spoken to the so called "experts" that hatches hundreds of peachicks each year,,and when asked to read this area of the forum referring to b/s chicks growing in solid blue,or solid black feathers has given all of them a great laugh. Darker pigmented feathers starts to emerge on peachicks being of the black shouldered pattern starting around 3-4 weeks in the males.Once again to prove my point also backed up by the experts and pictures please look at these two new pics.This first picture is of a Opal B/S hen that hatched May20th,,her mom and dad are both black shoulders in pattern and Opal in color.As of today this peahen is now 75 days old,,and I knew this one was going to be a hen over 6 weeks ago because she has basically stayed yellow-rust colored.

Now a picture of the younger Opal B/S male,,that was born May 24th,,,only 71 days old today.

Many peacock fanciers and breeders CAN distinguish sex once hatched on in sex linked colors and black shouldered peachicks around 3-4 weeks.As you can easily see in the picture of the male the feathers are not coming in all "blue" or all "black" in color,areas of these feathers changes pigment as the feathers grows,dispelling the fantasy of all solid colored feathers suddenly showing up.Sexing peachicks can be done at an early age,,at least I'm capable of doing it with great accuracy.The earlier pic of your Midnight B/S chick did not show the top of the back well,,but if it has coloring that is mottled like my picture above of the OPAL B/S male yours will be a male,,if the color is a lite pinkish-tan color with no darker mottled looking feathers present,it is a hen.It is easy if you hatch several of the same colored-patterned peachicks at the same time as I do each week because you can easily notice feather color changes occuring each day between like parented chicks.The chicks that will eventualy become males starts gaining pigment changes once the fuzz starts developing into what we recognize as a feather.

 

[Kedreeva]

areas of these feathers changes pigment as the feathers grows,dispelling the fantasy of all solid colored feathers suddenly showing up.

Just addressing a biology point real quick- feathers can't change their color after they've grown (I mean, not from speckled to blue or black... they can "change" as in get sun bleached or stained or something I guess). So, while the solid color feathers don't all just "show up," the mottled feathers don't actually become blue or black (while staying the same feather); they get replaced (albeit slowly) by the solid ones as time passes and the baby feathers get shed. Just don't want anyone thinking they have magical color-changing feathers.

Also Hiiiii FBC! *grabby hands* I love those opal BS so much

WANT

 

[country_girl011]

i swear every day that passes my dynamic duo (piper and poppy) are getting a few more green feathers.
they are looking so pretty.
so far i havent been able to capture the color in pics.

for the 2 pieds ive been thinking of names. im thinking eclipse for the hen (because of the mark on her forehead. she has a sliver of white almost like a moon/sun being eclipsed.
and for the one im guessing is going to be a male im thinking navajo. (still debating this one. i want something indian .. any ideas?)

im almost positive i have a pair in the pieds. the larger one is starting to lose the barring.
and the smaller ones crest is coming in really good now ( i think he wwas picked on at his other home)
it looks really funny bcuz it is brown(or black) and white. =)


now if my itty bitties would disclose whoo is what i could figure out just who is staying . and who is going.
for now im thinking of keeping 3 males. (poppy my Ib split to pied). the pied. and im hoping on of the purples is a male. (and the other a hen)
but then im torn bcuz id also like to see what the dark pied would look like.

i also really wish i had banded the ib that hatched with the purples bcuz some days i cant tell him apart from the dark pieds