What age can you tell gender?

[marlo1019]

I'm totally new to having chickens, and ordered 9 pullets but they added males for warmth in shipping. So, now I have 18 Ameraucanas that are 8-weeks old. At what age should I confidently be able to tell gender? They are starting to look very different, but I'm not 100% sure so don't want to guess. Thanks for any advice!

 

[junebuggena]

You should be able to get a good idea of male or female by 8 weeks.

 

[purplesquirrel]

Generally male:

thicker legs, slower feather development, larger, louder, more confident,

If in doubt, google image the breed and age and you will find examples to compare against

 

[marlo1019]

I have several with a much more prominent red comb/wattle but i wasn't completely sure if I could determine gender based on that or not. Is this a good indicator?

 

[junebuggena]

Pullets don't really start developing and turning red in the comb until they are close to laying age, usually around 14 to 18 weeks old. Any bird with a well developed, red comb before 10 weeks old is a cockerel. Also, Ameraucana don't have wattles, and Easter Eggers rarely have wattles. Easter Egger cockerels will usually get dark red shoulder patches, especially in the gold and red toned birds. Basically, if the body is generally all the same color and pattern, it's a pullet. Males are usually the more colorful and flashy birds.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

You can usually tell with Ameraucanas at about 8-12 weeks.

 

[marlo1019]

Thank you all so much for the help! I just thought I'd post some pics and get opinions as well....Let me know if you think I'm correct and how confident you are...I'd like to start getting rid of the males, but don't want to make the wrong decision since this is my first. Any help is greatly appreciated!

These are all 8-week old Ameraucanas (that's what I ordered anyway...I thought they were the same as Easter Egger, but apparently they are slightly different, so I learned something new)


Based on your comments, I'd guess the above is a female?


Male?


Both males?

Thanks again!

 

[junebuggena]

Thank you all so much for the help! I just thought I'd post some pics and get opinions as well....Let me know if you think I'm correct and how confident you are...I'd like to start getting rid of the males, but don't want to make the wrong decision since this is my first. Any help is greatly appreciated!

These are all 8-week old Ameraucanas (that's what I ordered anyway...I thought they were the same as Easter Egger, but apparently they are slightly different, so I learned something new)

This is an Easter Egger pullet.
Based on your comments, I'd guess the above is a female?

This is a Silver Laced Wyandotte cockerel.
Male?

These are both Silver Laced Wyandotte cockerels.
Both males?

Thanks again!

If you ordered 'Ameraucana' pullets, but got these, then you need to ask for a refund. Only one is what you actually paid for.

 

[marlo1019]

Thank you junebuggena! I ordered 9 Ameraucana pullets but they added 9 males for warmth in the box when shipping, but I just assumed they were the same breed....guess not. I didn't pay for the males, so no worries. Thank you so much for your help! Oh, and I just snapped a pic of a couple of them, I have a bunch more that look the same, just using these as examples.

 

[junebuggena]

This is what a typical Easter Egger cockerel's comb will look like.

A pullet's comb is usually still non existent at 8 weeks.