What breed and gender are my chickens?

Sheryse13

Hatching
5 Years
Oct 5, 2014
5
0
7
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can help shed some light for me. We have three chickens; Bonnie, Bow & Bella. We were led to believe that they are 16 weeks old and all females by the person who sold them to us 10 weeks ago. We believe Bonnie to be a Light Sussex but were told that the other two were black Orpingtons - this we do not believe! They have grown so much in the time we've had them and are beginning to show their own hilarious personalities!
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We've not heard any crowing but we're not sure if they are all females. Please help! THANKS!
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Oh that's great thankyou! How do you know they are all females? We searched Google for hours and two of them seem to have some characteristics of a male!
 
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I don't see a black Orp there....unless it's that first bird, but she looks to have feathered legs? What we really need to tell breed is a profile shot of each bird, fairly close, showing legs and comb.

The size of the white bird and the redness of the comb make me wonder if it's a cockerel. Is that a recent pic? Do you have any of when you first got them, so we can try to narrow down age for you?
 
Yeah the first one does have feathered legs but within the last couple of days they seem to have gone? She still has them on the legs though. The white ones comb and face seems to vary in colour. It can be completely colorless and then bright red! Not sure why this is! It also loves a cuddle which is why we thought it couldn't be a male as we read that they hate being picked up!

This a photo of each of them when we first got them.
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These are the most recent photos of them: (taken a week ago just after bath time!) I know the photos aren't brilliant they will not stay still!
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Actually, as chicks male birds are usually what folks describe as "my favorite, it's the friendliest of all"....but I do think you have all pullets. The top view of the black bird shows enough fluff she could be an Orpington, I guess, that first pic looked very sleek and close feathered, more like an Australorp.

Honestly, I think they're all mixed to some degree. But, since you're not breeding or showing, if you want a breed for them I'd say light sussex, black Orpington and maybe a cochin mix? With the pink skin, the grey bird could be an Orpington/cochin mix, something like that.

No matter the breed, they all look female and will likely give you a nice amount of brown eggs for breakfast, plus playing Chicken TV all day for you to watch! Isn't it amazing how fascinating they are?
 
Oh that's great thankyou! How do you know they are all females? We searched Google for hours and two of them seem to have some characteristics of a male!
They all have small combs and wattles for their age. The white one might be a rooster. But the two dark ones are defiantly female.
 
Ah thankyou! We're just praying they are all females! We have them at home in the back garden so we can't have any cockerels!
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They are so funny! They have absolutely destroyed the garden!
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It is just hilarious watching them do such daft things! I can just sit outside watching them for hours!
With the grey one, she is noticeably smaller than the other two, Could this be because of the breed? She doesn't seem to have grown at all while we've had her whereas the other two have shot up!
 
We hope it isn't a cockerel! Haha its strange because the big black one (Bella) was the one that we thought would have been more likely to be a male. She likes to chase the others round and have a bit of a 'chest bump'!
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and also always had a deeper voice than the others. Whereas the white one has a very high pitched kind of 'me me me ' noise! The grey one actually sounds like a duck at the minute! She never used to make a noise but think she's finally found her voice!
 

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