Spitzhaubens

[Finnie]

I agree with Alaskan and you.

When I was raising my one Spitzhauben last year, I kept telling myself that the occasional pinkness in the wattles was just from extra blood flow when it was exerting itself. But eventually it became more obvious. A little older than where yours are at now, so it shouldn't be too much longer. When I get on my PC, I can look up photos and see how old he was when I knew.

 

[Finnie]

OK, so here he is at 7 weeks old, and the first hint of wattles, but I still didn't admit it until he was over 13 weeks old, lol!



9 weeks old, still in denial:





Here he is 12.5 weeks, and I was still calling him Gloria on the label, but I think I knew by that time. I probably just didn't have a male name picked out for the label.

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks Finnie.
Those pics help. Also yours seemed to have a lot more white in the Spitz. Is that a trait of males or is it just a trait of the parents' plumage?

I feel my one chick is male. All the others go back & forth - even the chick with the small colorless wattles gets a touch of pink from time to time. I hope I didn't hatch 6 males!

On the bright side, I had a Coro Sussex who I thought was male from age 3 weeks. Her comb was pink very early, but it never grew. By 10 weeks, it was red. I was about to give her away, but I contacted the breeder with pics first. He said female. He explained that white birds in his line got pink early, but the males had huge combs. He was fairly certain I had a female, so I held on to her. It took 8 months to get an egg, but he was right.

Around 8 weeks old

8 months old

 

[Alaskan]

I had the same thing with some white leghorns... I would have bet $100 they were male because the combs got so red so early... But nope, girls. I wonder if that is because they were also white???

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Chicks are now 5.5 weeks. Chick A has the biggest Spitz. Hatched 1st, so is oldest. Has some wattle development & maybe a comb. Not much color in either, but sometimes gets pinkish if hot or excited. No idea of gender. Anyone have a guess? (My fav chick & a keeper if female. Of course, I'm not naming it yet....) Chick B I believe is male. Has the shortest Spitz but small red-pink wattles. His are the darkest wattles & he has a muscular feel to his body. Chick C- My opinion changes daily about this one. Any guesses? Like chick A, this one has wattles that sometimes get pink if hot or excited. Other times, they're pale. This one has the best chance of being female. Chick D Another ? I see a touch of pink in today's pics, but it's not always there & not dark like Chick B's. When I look from diff angles, I have diff gender predictions. Can any help sex these chicks?

My guess is that A is a girl & the rest are boys. It's still tough to tell at this point, so they could still prove us wrong. A couple of the young cockerel-looking birds are real nice. That tight crest is tough to get. And it looks like it's pointing the right direction. It will be fun to see how your birds grow out. Remember also that dark eyes and a tail angle more than 90 degrees from the back line are important. These are a couple goals spitz breeders are working with right now. But enjoy ur chicks while they're still chicks! They're all beautiful!

 

[Faraday40]

I'm re-posting new pics so you can see how they've changed. Predictions welcome.
age = about 6.5 weeks

A Still unknown gender;

 

[Faraday40]

Using the corresponding letters from my initial post, here are the rest. All are 6.5 weeks, but A is oldest. You can click on the image to see it larger.

B male



C Female??




D Male??

 

[Alaskan]

A is iffy, B and D look male, C is female.

 

[Faraday40]

Glad to know I'm not alone.

 

[Alaskan]

Yep...it is interresting how some breeds are pretty easy to sex..land other are just a giant guessing fest.