Silver Laced Wyandotte - how to tell boys from girls??

[arlee453]

All,

I have 2 silver laced Wyandottes. They are 4 wks old. One of them is much darker than the other. The lighter one has a lot more silver coloration across the upperback/shouder and lower neck area, whearas the other has dark feathers in this area and not as bright sliver lacing elsewhere.

One of them is the 'spare' thrown in and I'm beginning to suspect she may be a 'he'.

Anyone have experience with this breed and how early you can tell, or if the feather color makes a difference this early? I'll try to post pics tomorrow, which I know would help a lot!

-S

 

[lurky]

I just put up pics of my 2. Both girls.....totally different combs, one has lighter colors than the other.
I think the best thing for you to do is post pics to get help. Mine were so different, but both girls.

 

[jessied1227]

I have 11 SLW, all supposedly hens when ordered, but I ended up with 2 roos. Their feather coloration seemed to be *much* lighter than the girls. They are the prettiest in coloration. Anyway, it was their combs that tipped me off to their roo-ness, lol.
Here are a couple pics that might help.
Here is a roo:

Here is a hen:

These pictures were taken when they were four weeks. There was a HUGE difference in their comb development. I'm not sure if this is the case in all SLW, but it was definitely the case for me.

Hope this helped-
Jess

 

[Hellebore]

We kept the lightest one that we had and she is a she. She was much much lighter than the others.

 

[jessied1227]

I didn't mean to sound like I was saying you could tell by the colors. It just so happened that our boys are the lightest. It was definitely the combs that tipped me off.

Sorry-
Jess

 

[DoctorGoose]

Jessied--are your SLWs crowing?

(Oh--and our "confirmed" SLW pullets are lighter than everyone else!!!)

 

[jessied1227]

No, not yet, but the BO roo of the same age was squeaking today, lol.

I thought there was something wrong with one of my hens. He looked awful proud of himself, tho'

Jess

 

[lurky]

Quote:
My EE Roo started crowing this past week. He looked just as surprised as I did at what a horrible job he did. I told him he will improve, not to worry

 

[arlee453]

OK, picture time. Not the best pics in the world, but I think enough so you can see what I mean... (they were not happy babies to be so rudely awakened for their photo shoot)

They were identical looking before they started getting their feathers. Crystal is MY chicken - she will come right to me and jump in my hand. She's the most friendly of the bunch, followed closely by Oneida.

First, Crystal Chicken (the darker one)

In this one, you can see Oneida (the other SLW) in the foreground and Crystal (the darker one) in the back.

Now, Oneida:

Does this help? Any opinions?? You can see how Oneida has very bright silver feathers on her back, whereas Crystal has darker feathers.

Thansk!
Susan

 

[Mac in Wisco]

The feather coloring varies between birds, but as Jess said, you can see it in the comb and wattles. I had one where I could tell at three weeks. Distinctive red comb and and red wattles like in Jess' photos, whereas the hens' combs hadn't even even started growing yet.