Sexing White Hollands

[the simple life]

I hatched out three white hollands about 6 weeks ago, two are larger than the other one.
I notice those two also have tannish blotches on their heads compared to the all white head of the other one.
So I had been assuming those are the males even though I have never seen them strut.
I walked by the brooder yesterday and one of them had the other one's head feathers in his mouth and holding him to the ground like the older ones do to show dominance.
So my questions would be, do the tan markings on their head usually show they are going to be males or is that just because they are growing out quicker than the females and she would get that at some point too?
Are they a little young to be showing the dominance thing? I mean I have seen week old roosters do that circle dance like they are getting ready to box so I guess its not that surprising.
Is that something they ever do to females? I ask because I have seen the young roosters go at it with the pullets sometimes when she does not want his attention.
I have Bourbon Reds that are a couple of weeks old, aside from the black feather markings on the tail feathers that Steve mentions when they get older, are the larger ones generally the males?
I think I have figured out who is who here but would like to get some feedback to see if I am ontrack or not.
Thank you.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

It's just the way they grow out, with the hollands the size does give them away at an early age. On the males the legs will be thicker and they will just be overall bigger. Have you noticed the weight difference in the hollands from other poults? Even when they are first hatched you can feel they are bigger boned and weigh more than others.

Steve

 

[Celie]

I have been breeding White Hollands for 2 years now and not an expert by any means, but all my white hollands have that darker spot when they are quite young, but by the time they develope their adult feathers, they are all white. Also I have seen the males bow out and strut as young as 6 weeks old, when females are around, but not in front of an adult male. I have about 3 dozen right now ranging from 4 days to 2 years old and increasing in numbers weekly. I find they need about 6 weeks in the brooder before they can be turned out into the yard under normal conditions, but here in southern Louisiana, with nights around 90 degrees, they have only been able to take them out of the brooder at 3 weeks. I recently read an artical on Beltsville White Holland that said the origional eye color was pink, because they are albinos, then they were bred to have blue eyes, mine all have brown eyes. Can anyone tell me how that cam about? Thanks, Celie