Wyandottes, French Wheaten Marans, Partridge and Buff Brahmas

[swirler]

I know it's too early for some of these, and I don't have photos of all of them... but there are several I'm pretty sure are little cockerels. I have fifteen babies, five weeks old this week. We only need four or five pullets (we just had a ridiculously successful hatch). They're a mix of French Wheaten Marans, Buff Brahmas, Partridge Brahmas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and another Wyandotte colour - buff laced blue? Splash? I've forgotten.

I know I have a little Maran cock (the black feathers were a giveaway, but so is his magnificant comb), a couple Maran pullets, and several Wyandotte cocks (that little pale fellow is kinda obvious), but I'm hoping that at least some Brahmas will be pullets as well as the Marans. Any thoughts?

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[TurtlePowerTrav]

#5,7,9 and last one I am gonna say are cockerel do to coloring and slow feathering out of tails

 

[swirler]

Thanks! I knew 5 and 7, and suspected 9. How sure are you of the last one? I can't find a black feather on her anywhere, and her comb is flattish and pale compared to Mister 5.

(ETA: I should add that week one feathering showed 1 Maran with black wing feathers, and three with very pale, so I was only thinking that I have one Maran cockerel. I was looking at the pictures at the base of this page http://maransofamericaclub.com/wheatenmarans.php How reliable is that?)

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Last one I was strictly going by lack of tail feathering out.

 

[mandelyn]

#5 and #7 for sure are boys. The red pullets with the single comb, are some of the darkest Wheatens I've ever seen. I didn't see any in the color I'm used to seeing on them. If the red birds are supposed to be the Marans, then there's the one male that has his colors coming in and the rest are female. The link you posted didn't work, said page not found.

#9, grab another Brahma in the same color, and really look at each one. See if you can spot any major differences. I'm 50/50 on that one. Some pullets have a hawkish, masculine look to them. Sometimes other birds pluck a tail feather and change the look of the bird. They don't always mature at the same rate.

The Wheaten color is cool, if the boys don't show themselves early with comb/waddle development, the coloring in they do will give it away.

Wyandottes and Brahmas can take a little longer to know which gender they are. I look for waddles, reddening around the face, beefy legs and stout type stance. Something that indicates a big 'ol rooster in the making. The width of the comb on the Wyandottes will vary too, the wider and pinker it is, the more likely a male. Take #7 for example, strapping young man with those thick legs and over all larger appearance. Pink waddles coming in, ignore the comb, look at his chin with the waddle growth. Hardly any tail. He has all of the tell-tale markers of being male. Other birds might be sneakier in their development.

 

[swirler]

Thanks! I'm noticing very different behaviours with the (obvious) little boys too - they were first out of the hutch to explore their new surrounds, first up to the outside pen, and they spend a lot of their time playing little-boy fights and chesty-bumps. It's quite hilarious at this age, while they're still half downy and peeping.

The red pullets are much, much darker in this second feathering! This is what they looked like at first (front chick, the back is the boy) - this is with a red lamp on, so they were even paler than they look in the photo:

 

[PeakyBeaky]

1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 look like boys. Still hard to tell in some pictures. Your Blue Laced Red wyandottes(first 2 pictures-look like boys based on there feathering pattern), That SL in 8 already has waddles too. The splash in 9 is for sure a boy. I couldn't tell much from picture 10 they way the sun was shining in the shot.