Silver laced polish: Pullet or cockerel?

[Lhynes1478]

Since you guys are so good at this: pullet or cockerel? It’s a 10wk old silver laced polish. I’m thinking pullet. I know polish are really hard.

 

[annageckos]

I'm leaning towards cockerel, but give it time.

 

[chuckachucka]

the crest feathers look pointed at the ends, which would imply cockerel. But the lack of wattle growth looks female. Wait another month to see if the wattles and comb grow. Polish can take months to sex accurately.

 

[junebuggena]

Muffs/beard means that there will be no early wattle development to go off of. And 10 weeks is pretty young to have obvious male feathering. This one needs a few more weeks to be able to sex accurately.

 

[junebuggena]

I’ve seen people post their white crested polish on here with quite the bright red and large wattles at 10wks so I’m just confused lol.

Because some polish have muffs/beards and some don't. Those that don't have muffs/beards can be sexed based off of wattle development by 10 weeks of age. Those with muffs/beards, like yours, will not develop wattles making sexing more difficult.

 

[junebuggena]

I did not know this! So muffs/beards mean that they don't grow wattles as big and/or early, and not just that the wattles are less obvious/easy to see? I have some bearded polish with no wattle growth at nearly ten weeks that I'm trying to sex too. How reliable is the crest sexing? Some people say that the feathers grow in spiky and either crazy looking or more slicked back in males, and rounded feathers and globular in females. Others have said that, like silkies, males sprout spiky feathers at a later age?

Crest sexing is reliable, once your birds are fully feathered. But it can take a practiced eye to notice the differences in male and female crests, and sometimes hatchery sourced females may not have proper crests, making it a bit tricky. Sexing by comb development is difficult because crested birds have small combs, and it's harder to see them underneath all those feathers.
Unfortunately, in some case you just have to wait for male specific feathering to develop.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Age?

 

[Altfrizzle]

I'd guess pullet.

 

[diamondsilkies]

Probably pullet, but as you said, pullets can be hard to sex.

 

[Lhynes1478]

Because some polish have muffs/beards and some don't. Those that don't have muffs/beards can be sexed based off of wattle development by 10 weeks of age. Those with muffs/beards, like yours, will not develop wattles making sexing more difficult.

Oh! Ok, gotcha! Great to know! thanks again!!