What Breed and Gender are my chicks?

[Jlynn7]

Hello! I am new to the chicken thing, and I recently purchased 4 chicks, they said they were sexlinks and the ones I got were female, but I am starting to question them, two of them grew a comb at about 2-3 weeks, they are pretty red, the other two didnt grow a comb yet, the two with the comb are bigger in size than the other two. I think the bigger ones with the combs may both be males. They are a little aggressive, they don't do the "rooster dance" they don't fight, but they do peck at each other a lot which I am assuming they are just being chicks and playing. They aren't trying to crow or anything. But they just look like they are males. They are 4 weeks old so I know that's still pretty young, I just wanted some thoughts on the gender and the breed. I don't want any roosters so hopefully they are all pullets! Here are some pictures.....Thank You!

PICTURE 1 - Suspected Male....



PICTURE 2 - Both Males??



PICTURE 3 - All of them at about 2 weeks old




PICTURE 4 - Female?? Breed/Mix?




PICTURE 5 - Aggressive (Male)??



PICTURE 6 - All of them when they were little

 

[Sunshine0235]

Where did you get them from? (hatchery, feedstore, person)

 

[Jlynn7]

it was a flock swap at a feed store, the person who sold them to me didn't know too much info on them, she was selling them for her friend who really needed to get rid of them

 

[Sunshine0235]

The reds kind of look like the offspring of red sex links, which means that they arent sexlinks, and I do think they are male.

Picture 4 needs a head shot to help determine sex, but the thick legs and patchy feathers have me worried a little.

 

[Jlynn7]

uh oh :-( Here are some head shots of the other two,


Picture A - the smallest darker one



Picture B



Picture C - The lighter one on top - the smallest one from picture A is on the bottom

 

[Sunshine0235]

Those two look like pullets so far

 

[Jlynn7]

What a relief to hear! I love those two! Thank you so much for your time and fast replies!

 

[Michael OShay]

Hello again. I just responded to you in the new member section.As I pointed out there, if these birds were all Red Sex Links, they would all be females as female Red Sex Link chicks are reddish and males are whitish, however these are not sex links. They could be second generation from Red Sex Links (Red Sex Link male bred to Red Sex Link female), but because sex links don't breed true all you get is hybrids when you breed two sex links together. They are no longer sex links. As I said in the new member section, I'm going to give whoever sold you these the benefit of the doubt. They may not have realized that Red Sex Links don't breed true and thought because the offspring were reddish that they were female, but whether intentional or not, they have sold you a bunch of cockerels. However the good news is that the two darker colored birds that you posted in your second set of pictures do appear to be females. I hope for your sake that I'm right on those. )