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At what age can baby chickens be ID\'s male or female?

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Guest:
My baby flock is six weeks old now...about when should I be able to tell the cockerels from the pullets?

Thanks much.

--Ron

Mike Gilbert:
If you have silvers, the females will be developing salmon color on the breast area, while the males will be getting some black feathers on the  breast.    Otherwise, males will be developing pointed feathers in the saddle (in front of the tail).
Male combs will be a little larger with more color, as a general rule, than those of the females.    But don\'t be in a rush, just enjoy the ride.

Guest:
Mike,

This is what I have:

15 Ameraucanca Silver male crossed with RIR females
5 Ameraucana Silver males crossed with either Ameraucana Silver or Amerauacana wheaten.
Total = 20.

Some of the birds are all white; some are white/black; some are black/grey; I have one with white and brown splotches, and one with a lot of jet black.

But, to re-cap it\'s the pointed feathers on the saddle and the larger, brighter comb that are the give-aways? I\'m not rushing -- but I am -- because I don\'t want to be busted again for roosters (illegal where I live) -- I probably have a few more months to go, but I definitely need to address it before they become sexually mature.

In the meantime, I\'ll enjoy their presences here. So far, it\'s been a great ride. I have bamboo poles run through the poultry netting for roost bars -- one of them is 3 feet up and some of the birds can reach it from the ground. They\'re fantastic flyers. Clip wings? Not on my life! :-)

Guest:
I have noticed around 6 weeks, cockerels are larger and have redder combs.

Guest:

being that many of yours are cross breeds it may be harder, but I can usualy identify them by 5 days by their feathering, Sean does a differant \"rooster test\" and checks their voices, again by about day 5.
At that earlie stage we are only about 85% accurate, but by 3 weeks their feathers are very easy to determine
the roosers are usually a bit slower to feather over their backs, and usualy have a much more abrupt stature, the roosters will have pointy feathers emerging in their saddle region, hens are more blunt and rounded

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