Backyard Poultry Forum

Hello, new user here! We have 9 chicks of varying breeds, that we are trying to sex. I have suspicions on each of them but would love the input of other, more experienced, chicken keepers. (Small side note: they all have girl names - we were optimistic). First up is Brenda, a partridge Wyandotte bantam.



Next up is Caramel, a buff pekin.

Next up are Penny and Sophie, both Partridge Wyandotte Bantams.

These two have me really confused. Judging by comb, I feel Penny is a boy and Sophie is a girl, but then their feathers make me think the opposite. hmmm.

First Penny:



Now Sophie:



And Penny and Sophie together:

Next up are the silkies, Glitter and Ghost. I know these are notoriously difficult to sex, and they are not aggressive (*ahem* Brenda), so I am more interested than concerned at this stage. I'm leaning towards boy for Glitter and girl for Ghost, based mostly on the way they feathered as small chicks (Ghost had way more tail than Glitter for ages), although Glitter now has a bigger comb so we will see if my initial suspicion was right.

Glitter:


Ghost:



Which brings us to the Australorps.

Finally the Australorp bantams! We have Vanilla, who feathered quickly but now has a large-ish comb, Gladys, who was very slow to feather and has a tiny comb, and Penguin, who was somewhere in the middle for feathering, and also has a small comb.

Vanilla, who seems like a boy:


Penguin...girl?


Gladys, girl maybe?

Redness of comb and wattles is usually a good indication of cockerels compared with pullets of the same age. Often the pullets will have more tail develoment as well in softfeather breeds. Vanilla & Caramel are looking boyish. No comment re the Silkies from me.

I compiled an index of many posts that may also be helpful. It is a sticky post whose link is at the top of this forum:


INDEX

My opinions on their sex. Gladys girl, penguin girl, ghost girl, Sophie girl.
Vanilla boy,glitter boy,penny boy, caramel boy, and Brenda boy.

I think I agree with Mycoola, but not sure about Brenda.... you'll have more idea in another couple of weeks.

Ooohh interesting Okaru. Brenda was the one I was most confident about! Thanks everyone for your input. We will keep them all until they reveal themselves clearly, then the boys will have to go back to the farm. It's pleasing to see that I was mostly on the right track...at least, as much as you guys haha!

Update: Caramel and Vanilla both started making strangled crowing noises. We took that as confirmation of them being roosters, and they have found a new home. Still watching penny, Brenda and Glitter suspiciously. Glitter has grown a much larger comb and wattles than Ghost, but is staying quiet for now. He must have heard that we'll keep him if he keeps the crowing down! Will update as more reveal themselves

So, the final (I hope) results are in. For the wyandottes: roosters were Penny and Brenda, Sophie is a hen. Silkies: Ghost is a hen and Glitter a rooster. Australorps: Gladys and Penguin are hens, Vanilla is a rooster, and Caramel the Pekin was a rooster. The roosters all had a grand reveal by crowing. They are now 14 weeks old