Three pullets ... I hope

[burquechick]

I can tell they're all roos because they're all starting to sprout sickles. Also, girls with combs that bright red should be laying.

 

[Chicken Tamer]

I can tell they're all roos because they're all starting to sprout sickles. Also, girls with combs that bright red should be laying.

Sickles? Probably a dumb question, but what are those? Are they hackles?

 

[Aragon]

I am not sure but I think he is talking about how the tail feathers on males kinda bend over forming a sickle appearance.

 

[Kev]

Yes that's sickle feathers.

Sorry about the farmer, some people are like that- anything to sell anything.

There is not a reliable way for almost anyone to sex day old chicks across a range of breeds and colors, him pre sexing the buff chick would have been a big red flag.

The hatcheries use trained persons who sex chicks in the cloacal area OR by sex linked traits if available such as if the chicks were a deliberate color cross such as RIR roosters over BR hens for Black Sex links- females would have no spot on head, males would have one. Or if they have a single breed with separate lines pure for another sex linked trait such as slow feathering gene, then those would be pure bred but chicks would be sexable by how much exposed feathers they have on their wings at hatch. That's how hatcheries are pretty reliable with sending out sexed chicks.

Most backyard breeders aren't set up like that though. You'd have to know what actually works and have to assume the breeder understands sex linking and took precautions with the breeders before collecting eggs(like how long before collecting did hens have access to a different rooster and were the chicks kept separate at hatching and marked).

Other methods like dangling the chicks by legs or by neck does not work(usually chicks that fight are 'marked' as male), nor does a ring or nail on a string held over the chick etc. even though there are those that swear by it... there's a 50% chance of being correct on each chick anyways.

 

[Aragon]

So the farmer respond:

"Yes we would honor the deal and exchange the birds. The one looks like it eneded up being a cornish/ buff cross. The other two dont look like cockrels - but if they turn out to be let us know.

As we have raised and continue to raise a large number of chickens, the coloration does not indicate either or - and the feathering we see in the pictures does not look to us as though they are cockrels. Wattles and combs are not a diffenitive way of telling at this age - we have pleanty of birds that demenstrate the above and are quite cert hens."

Seems like they are being a bit stand-offish. I really wish I had a female to compare. When I looked at them again this morning more and more I agree that they look like roos; hackels, sickles and saddles. I may just have to pack them up and take them to the farmer for his inspection. Though as mentioned the only way to know for sure is when the lay eggs or begin to crow.

 

[Kev]

Fat lot of good "raised and continue to raise a large number of chickens, " has done for him!

 

[missnu01]

I am positive that the white and brown one is a rooster...and I am pretty sure that the other 2 are as well...only the black gives me pause...but if they were hens they would be laying now with those big red combs.

 

[Aragon]

So another local farmer suggested that the feet were a good indicator of sex. If they have the spur bud then it is likely a rooster. So my question is, if I see a bump on the inner side of the feet about 3/4 of an inch above the feet is that a spur bud?

The white one has the bumps and the other two appear to have the bumps as well. A second local farmer I showed the photos to believes the white one is a male since a sex link female would likely be red with white spots not white with red.

 

[Chicken Tamer]

So another local farmer suggested that the feet were a good indicator of sex. If they have the spur bud then it is likely a rooster. So my question is, if I see a bump on the inner side of the feet about 3/4 of an inch above the feet is that a spur bud?

The white one has the bumps and the other two appear to have the bumps as well. A second local farmer I showed the photos to believes the white one is a male since a sex link female would likely be red with white spots not white with red.

All are males.
Also, that would most likely be a spur growing in, but you cant always be sure if you see a little bump, depends how big it is

 

[debid]

All 3 are obvious cockerels at this point -- the rooster feathers show in your photos. Either this farmer is remarkably ignorant for a chicken farmer or he's lying.