Silver Laced Polish gender guesses ... 5w3d old

[mlcrowley]

We got 4 polish chicks bought as straight run. Two are white crested, two are silver laced. They are almost 6 weeks old, so I know it’s still early, but I wanted to see if anyone had any guesses. We’re fairly certain of gender on 3 of the 4, but the smallest one is giving me a run for my money. I’ve posted pics of all of them because we’re mostly comparing traits from one to the next to see what’s going in since they’re still so young. I posted extra pics of the one in question (#4).

#1 - white crested, 99% sure he’s a rooster. Red wattles already and a super awesome mullet. Also bigger than the rest and thicker legs than the other white crested.
#2 - white crested, 99% sure she’s a pullet. Nice round crest, thinner legs than #1 and no red in the wattles.
#3 - silver laced, leaning pullet on this one. Round crest, no sign of wattles at all yet, thin legs.
#4 - silver laced, this is the one we can’t tell. Thin legs, no wattles, super crazy crest.

if it makes any sense, #3’s crest came in super mullet-ish just like #4’s and then rounded out at the top.

 

[AltonaAcres]

You are right about the first two, and the silver laced look like pullets, but they are tricky to tell.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

I would say that #1 is a cockerel, and the others are all pullets. See if you can part #4's crest to get a good look at her comb, though.
Also, wow, those are some crazy crests!

 

[mlcrowley]

I would say that #1 is a cockerel, and the others are all pullets. See if you can part #4's crest to get a good look at her comb, though.
Also, wow, those are some crazy crests!

They do have the craziest crests. They crack me up! Really hoping we only have 1 roo in the bunch. We have a bantam Cochin roo already and I’m hoping if we only have one more in this bunch that our flock will be large enough they won’t hate each other.

 

[mlcrowley]

I would say that #1 is a cockerel, and the others are all pullets. See if you can part #4's crest to get a good look at her comb, though.
Also, wow, those are some crazy crests!

Ok, I got a little look at all of their combs. I don’t think I’d be able to hold them still enough for pictures, their combs are super buried in feathers. #1 I can’t see a comb per se, but there is definitely bright red at the top of the beak.
#2 can’t see a darned thing, no redness, no points, nothing, just feathers. Haha.
#3 can’t see anything on this one either. No redness at the top of the beak, there is very fleshy colored patch at the top of the beak, but no points or anything.
#4 I can see distinguishable points on either side of the beak, but they have zero redness to them. They’re super light flesh colored. Do hens get the v-comb thing going on too?

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

Sounds to me like only #1 is a cockerel... I'm not one hundred percent sure on this, as I haven't actually raised any Polish chickens, but it sounds like there's only the one cockerel.

 

[mlcrowley]

Sounds to me like only #1 is a cockerel... I'm not one hundred percent sure on this, as I haven't actually raised any Polish chickens, but it sounds like there's only the one cockerel.

Thank you!! I sure hope so!

 

[PNWskye]

Mine looks like #2 with a little more wattle at that age! Please do update this post with pics or if you know the roo/hen status! These threads would so much more awesome if there were updates!

 

[mlcrowley]

Agreed, these posts are better with updates! And thank you for asking as I had totally forgotten to come back with those updates! I still won’t say I’m absolutely certain of #4’s gender.

#1 from my original post is for certain a cockerel. His waddles are more pronounced now and he’s decided to try his hand at crowing. He sounds more like a goose with laryngitis at this age, but it’s definitely working it’s way towards a nice loud crow. #2 & #3 are most certainly pullets. Nice round crests, no waddles, no combs, no redness, and no awkward crowing. #2 has some interesting bumps on the legs that look suspiciously like spurs, but they haven’t developed into anything more than tiny bumps.

#4 has not tried its hand at crowing, it’s crest is rounding out nicely, but the feathers in the crest are pointier than the other silver-laced. The rest of #4’s feathers are rounded, no pointy saddle feathers or anything of that nature. Still no waddles or redness at the comb either. I’m leaning heavily towards this one being a pullet, but it’s developed so much differently than the other that I just can’t be 100% yet. They’re coming up on 2 months old now. I’ll get some updates pics posted next.

I’m still new at all this too, so I could most certainly be wrong. So far, I’m just congratulating the fact that I bought chicks straight run and hopefully got 3 out of the 4 to be pullets!! Let’s hope my luck doesn’t change there.

 

[mlcrowley]

it was difficult to get pictures as it’s super windy today, but hopefully these will help a little.