Silver Sussex (sexing chicks or young birds)

[OLCHOOK]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I'd appreciate some help please.

My experience with Silver Sussex is limited to a couple of hens that I own and some that friends have. I'd like to buy some chicks and raise them myself next year instead of buying POL as I usually do.

Given my limited experience as mentioned above, just about all female Silver Sussex are quite dark with very little lacing, whereas images of Cock birds have a large amount of white through their hackles and back. Sometimes, I've seen very strikingly marked Cocks with a lot of Silver/White on them.

My question then is this, when does this color trait for the male birds begin to show? At what age is it blindingly apparent that (due to coloration) certain chicks must be male birds?

Please someone, set me straight. I can't have male birds on my block, the council forbids it and my neighbours are feral.

Regards,

OLCHOOK (Linz)

 

[Chinchilla2]

I knew by 6 weeks of age with the pair I have. In addition, the female feathered out considerably faster than the male. Considering that they are now 14 weeks old and I haven't heard a crow yet, you should be fine with figuring out if you do have a male before both the council and the feral neighbors discover you have a rooster in the hen house.