Splash and Black Orp Gender

[Ellie]

These are Speckled Hen's grandchicks. They are 7 weeks old. Do you think they are male or female?

Black Orpington

Splash Orpington

Thank you for looking

 

[silkiesandbuffs]

I'm not an expert so I hope you get other replies but I would say your black is a pullet and the splash is a roo.

 

[Ellie]

Thanks, I am trying to learn, so can you tell me what you see that leads you to your conclusion?

It will be fun to learn from all of you.

 

[happytxchick]

I say that they are both pullets...neither show combs big enough for cocks in my opinion. At this age, I look more at the combs than the feathering; although, I have noticed that pullets (of the breeds I have) get tail feathers faster than the cocks.

 

[Ellie]

The black Orp was slower to feather. Could just be genetic as it's mom was slow to feather as well.

 

[speckledhen]

Dont quote me, but I think the black is a pullet and the splash is a cockerel, but I hope they're both girls.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm not putting anything down, just saying...the yellow beak indicates that they're not Orpingtons. Orpingtons have white skin, not yellow and the yellow beak kind of dissuades that.

Any chance those are black and splash Plymouth Rocks instead?

 

[Ellie]

Well, their papa is Speckled Hen's Blue Orpington Suede and their mama is from her flock as well.

I'm sure she will chime in here.

 

[speckledhen]

Mika, they are Orpingtons. Suede is from Sandhill lineage, some of BamaChicken's earliest stock. He has white skin, as does Smoky, the mother of these two, a blue Orp from a different lineage. If there is some yellow popping up, it's because of when Sandhill bred in blue Rocks years ago to offset the inbreeding issues in the BBS Orps. They are most definitely Orpingtons as I have no blue Rocks and neither do the breeders the parents came from.

See this splash cockerel below? That is one of Suede's sons, owned by ChickNThief (Jessica) and her mother,jeaucamom (Suz). His legs are white, but they started out greenish-yellow at about a month old then changed to what you see in this picture. When I saw the early photo of him, I was shocked at the leg color, did some investigation and found out about Sandhill's breedings they did in the past. The pics are from other threads on BYC and I'm sure Jess won't mind me reposting them. I've only seen this a few times out of all the many chicks I've hatched from them, though. The first pic is from this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=57987

Here he was younger, then younger still:

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Well that is just flabberghasting!