4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Moozle]

I have 6, 3 week old chicks and I was trying to fathom out which sex they all are. The trouble is they are all different breeds so its really hard to compare. I have got a cuckoo cochin, a cuckoo maran, a rhode island red, a light sussex, a cream legbar, and a brown leghorn. They were hatched under my speckledy hen meggy. The maran, cochin and sussex were slower to feather up than the others, and the sussex has black feathers coming into its wings. The legbar is a very pale silvery colour, does that mean its male?

I would be thankful for any input or ideas about signs of different sexes for these breeds, though I know its a waiting game to be absolutely certain.

 

As we speak my second batch of eggs is hatching under my other speckledy Mildred. So far an Ancona and a Barnvelder have hatched. fingers crossed for the other 4.

[Griffin]

Post pics of them all I'm very good at sexing Sussex, they're dead easy now that I've hatched quite a few. It is hard when you've nothing to compare to though. I've got an Ancona that hatched on July 2nd and it's only now I can say with any confidence that it's a girl.

[Moozle]

OK, here goes... images not great, the little tinkers are so fast I I have them in a pen with loads of bushes/ perches etc so not great, but worth a try.

 

The Cuckoo Cochin

The Cream Legbar

The Light Sussex

The Cuckoo Maran

And lastly a newly fluffed up Ancona chick with her specledy mum Mildred.

[Raina]

Aww cute pics & fingers crossed on the hatching eggs

 

I'm not sure about all the pics but i'd say the the CL is male?

[Griffin]

I'd need to see the Sussex comb but the legs look a bit boyish. The Cuckoo Maran is a girl, boys have lighter barring.

[Moozle]

Oooh thanks! I'll get some more pics tomorrow and hopefully should have some more hatchlings then....

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Griffin I keep trying to get pics of my little tasmanian devils for you to look at and confirm their true colours, but they move sooooo fast I can't get a good enough one of any of them! I've managed to get a leg ring on 2 of them so at least I can differentiate with some certainty now.....I am now convinced ( ) I have 2 girls and one boy, as one has very yellow legs and a much pinker set of face furniture than the other 2, to the point that I thought it had been pecked this morning when it shot out of the run at it's usually 100 mph

 

I'll post a video if I can't get a reasonable photo....how does everyone get such wonderful posed pics of their babies...mine are never still for more then 3 nanoseconds

 

Sha x

[Griffin]

Ha ha ha! Mine have no choice but to keep still, I perch them up on a high wall and they're usually nosey enough to stand there and admire the view for a minute or two. If they don't they'll fall off So far I've only had one jump down and head for the hills

[Moozle]

Well the cameras died But we have a Leghorn with a hUGE comb now , so looks like hes a boy, the light sussex has a fair old comb on him? too, so looks like hes a boy. The Legbar is bumping into everyone and having a bit of a minor spar with the RIR so looks like those are boys

So fingers crossed that the cuckoo mran and Cuckoo Cochin are girls then?

 

Mildred brought her two chicks outside this morning and abandoned the other 4 eggs I had a good look at them and there was no cheeping or signs of pipping so I discarded them I couldnt bring myself to crack them open and its unlikely anything will hatch two days over when the hens off them

 

Still she has a lovely duet of Ancona and Barnvelder, hope they are girls!

[Tulip]

Oooh yeah I'd put money on that CL being a boy. If you have any pics or memories of them when they hatched you would have seen that his markings weren't particularly..erm.. marked! CL girlies have very pronounced racing stripes, the boys colours sort of fade into each other as you can see with mine:

 

 

I think the pale spot on the head also screams 'boy!'.

 

(Another excuse to post a pic of my babies... sorry.)

[Moozle]

Ah well looking at that picture my cream legbar clearly is a male then. Thanks! He definately did not have the 'racing stripes' and had a very pale blob on his head. He looks awful at 4 weeks old we are calling him the ugly duckling and hoping that he blossoms into a handsome chap. Luckily we have a neighbour who is looking for a pure bred cockrel as the head of her hareem of hens, I said she could take her pick once we decide whats what out of our lot. So one of our chaps will have a nice home and avoid the pot! She has her pick of a Legbar, a Light Sussex and probably a Leghorn and RIR as well

Im hoping my gorgeous little Ancona is a girl

[Space Chick]

If its just the comb with the Leghorn thats making you think its a boy, then Leghorns do develop big combs and quickly, so it could still be a girl. Don't give up yet

[Saronne]

I've got a CL chick with distinct racing stripes AND a yellow spot on the head.. have I got a he-she?!

 

Saronne

[Tulip]

Ooooh interesting. Hang on, let me prove myself wrong..... here we go:

 

The 'barring' pattern is sex-linked, i.e. the males have two chromosomes for barring and the females only one. Day old chicks have a light patch on the top of the head. When the barring is combined with brown colouring, the light spot on the head of the females is small and well defined and there is a clearly defined dark stripe down the back. The stripe down the back of male chicks is much fainter and there is a light patch that covers most of their head. The down of the male chick is also much paler.

(http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/genetics/what-is-autosexing.html)

 

Oh and Moozle... Aloo looked exactly the same at four weeks - he'll grow into his feathers and be a lovely handsome chappy

[Saronne]

Thanks for that explanation, Tulip. I'm hoping (from that description) that the one I described is a girl!

 

Saronne xx