The dreaded question... ♂ or ♀ 9-10ish week old Austra white

[JustSarahThanks]

I've been a low-grade off and on worried that one of my two Austra Whites might be male for a few weeks but I haven't seen anything that really jumps out clearly. She still has a pretty yellowy comb (that matches her sister who I am not worried about) but she had some visible wattle developement starting as early as maybe 6 or 7 weeks. I know Austra Whites have a White Leghorn parent who I understand to be fast maturing with more prominent wattles and combs even in the hens so my hope is that the bird in question just dipped a little deeper in the Leghorn gene pool and is just a precocious pullet. If it turns out that she's a rooster I have to rehome due to city zoning rules and I really, really don't want to. In the attached photos the specific bird I'm worried about is that one that's more completely white, but I include some of her sister who I'm not really worried about just for comparison.

They're somewhere in the 9-10 week age range, I don't know the exact hatch date but today is 9 weeks to the day that we brought them home so they were at least a few days old at that point for sure (and were visibly a little older than the Bielefelders we also brought home on the same day).

 

[AltonaAcres]

Pullets

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Pullets!!!!

 

[JustSarahThanks]

Here's the bird in question at somewhere between 7-8ish weeks old

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Here's the bird in question at somewhere between 7-8ish weeks old

Pullet. (Girl)

 

[AltonaAcres]

Pullet. You should see my cockerels at that age......................they have huge red wattles and combs. Not that pinkish color at all

 

[JustSarahThanks]

Thank you thank you! I was putting off posting this because I was afraid of what the answer might be! I so appreciate you all! <3

 

[JustSarahThanks]

OK, getting paranoid again because a friend took a look at Queenie (who's now somewhere in the 12-13 week range) and declared her to be a cockerel. I haven't seen any pointy saddle feathers so I am still holding out hope that she's a pullet and I won't have to rehome her. Any changed minds?

 

[JaeG]

OK, getting paranoid again because a friend took a look at Queenie (who's now somewhere in the 12-13 week range) and declared her to be a cockerel. I haven't seen any pointy saddle feathers so I am still holding out hope that she's a pullet and I won't have to rehome her. Any changed minds?

Still a girl - I'd say she's going to start laying soon. A cockerel would most likely be crowing by now and showing some roostery feathers.

 

[JustSarahThanks]

Still a girl - I'd say she's going to start laying soon. A cockerel would most likely be crowing by now and showing some roostery feathers.

Gawd, I hope so... It was really distressing to hear that from my friend! I got very comfortable to with the notion that Queenie is a Queenie and not a Kingie!