What Gender? | Speckled Sussex |

[Wildest]

On June 7th, I received day old chicks in the mail from MyPetChicken. As of today, they just turned 7 weeks old! I've never owned chickens before this so it's been a learning curve but so far, I've been enjoying every step of the way.

When I ordered my chicks, I chose to get all hens. However, my Speckled Sussex has me wondering if she may in fact be a he. When they were so young it was hard to tell but now this chicken is getting a completely white chest (which I heard is one way to tell) and "her" comb seems to be a bit larger than all my other hens (all though they are all different breeds so I'm sure that isn't a great way to tell).

I only have one decent picture as of now. I can get more tomorrow once all the thunderstorms pass. Please let me know what you all think!

 

[sourland]

Looks suspicious.

 

[drumstick diva]

seems like a lot of comb for 7 weeks old

 

[Alexandra33]

Agreed, the comb is a little too developed.

~Alex

 

[voissems]

For comparison, here's a possible sibling with same hatch date & source

I've also been worried about mine, especially since I've already got 2 other suspects for cockerels out of 8 different "pullets" I ordered

 

[Shezadandy]

Also got SS's from MPC - both did turn out to be pullets (now laying eggs). I do agree the bird in question has quite the comb and that is a fair amount of white. One of the SS's was the first to lay at exactly 20 weeks, the other was much slower to mature and didn't lay until 27 weeks, a full month behind every other bird.

Here are a few comparison pictures to reference. Different hatch date, of course, but from MPC-- at 8 weeks I started seeing pink in the comb of one of the pullets.

Here they are at 35 days, still lots of white:


Day 55- 1st bird of 10 to lay at 20 weeks


Day 55: Last of 10 birds to lay at 27 weeks




Here's the comb at 8 weeks:

Same bird on the day she laid her first egg, 20 weeks:

 

[Mountain Peeps]

On June 7th, I received day old chicks in the mail from MyPetChicken. As of today, they just turned 7 weeks old! I've never owned chickens before this so it's been a learning curve but so far, I've been enjoying every step of the way.

When I ordered my chicks, I chose to get all hens. However, my Speckled Sussex has me wondering if she may in fact be a he. When they were so young it was hard to tell but now this chicken is getting a completely white chest (which I heard is one way to tell) and "her" comb seems to be a bit larger than all my other hens (all though they are all different breeds so I'm sure that isn't a great way to tell).

I only have one decent picture as of now. I can get more tomorrow once all the thunderstorms pass. Please let me know what you all think!

I wouldn't go drawing any conclusions right away. My speckled sussex had me worried "she" was a boy as well. Her comb was large and orange. Most people I talked to were convinced she was a cockerel but once she was older, she grew into her comb and ended up laying eggs. While your bird is looking a little roo-ish, you still will need to wait to be 100% sure.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Cockerel

 

[OneLostHen]

Thick legs too. I suspect cockerel.

 

[austrolover1]

X2