Silver Laced Wyandottes - Pullets or Cockerels?

[SGH]

4 weeks old, Silver Laced Wyandottes. I’m having a real hard time guessing sex of these. Pullets or Cockerels?

 

[Kylo_Hen!]

to yon to tell they look like pullets try dropping a hat or some thing in the brooder and if they run away they are pullets if they bravely approach it them roo this will not be 100% chants but it is better then nothing

 

[Gray Farms]

4 weeks is a little to young still.

 

[SGH]

Okay, I will wait longer. I also have 4 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, and they seem much easier to sex. I think 2 of them are Cockerels and 2 Pullets.

These SLW seem much harder to sex. I will say they feathered at about the same rate, while the Blue laced reds did not. I feel the 2 That feathered slower on the blues, clearly have bigger redder combs and some roo behavior.

 

[Alexandra33]

Looking forward to that update! It's still a little bit early yet.

~Alex

 

[SGH]

to yon to tell they look like pullets try dropping a hat or some thing in the brooder and if they run away they are pullets if they bravely approach it them roo this will not be 100% chants but it is better then nothing

If I drop a hat my Polish chicks will fly out if the brooder and probably have a heart attack

 

[William Rains]

Hello!
They look lovely, but I understand the difficulty in telling them apart.
I think I got lucky in my source of SLW because it has become easy enough to tell them apart based upon their feather growth.

The first image is a female where you can see the wing feathers are more developed and the feathers along the back are coming in already.

The second image shows the male and the complete lack almost of feathers. I don't really understand it but it seems like the males put more effort into growing larger and quicker while the females focus on feather growth.

Dunno if this will help or not!
Thanks,
Will

 

[SGH]

Thank you Will. It’s now been another month since I posted the pictures and I believe I have 4 Pullets. Very Lucky as I ordered strait run.

I experienced exactly what you show above on my Blue Laced Reds; I have 4 of which 2 were very slow to feather and they are Cockerels . Funny, I ordered females in this color but got 2 Pullets and 2 Cockerels lol. I am very happy only 3 Cockerels out of 20 that I can tell so far. I however have some Polish and Silkies and can not sex them yet.

 

[William Rains]

That's brilliant! You have been lucky so!
It must be a feathering trait that pops up now and then amongst some of the wyandottes! I am going to try and incorporate those genetics into the rest of my flocks of SLW so that I can really get things going!

 

[samzoost]

Hello!
They look lovely, but I understand the difficulty in telling them apart.
I think I got lucky in my source of SLW because it has become easy enough to tell them apart based upon their feather growth.

The first image is a female where you can see the wing feathers are more developed and the feathers along the back are coming in already.

The second image shows the male and the complete lack almost of feathers. I don't really understand it but it seems like the males put more effort into growing larger and quicker while the females focus on feather growth.

Dunno if this will help or not!
Thanks,
Will

View attachment 1531029 View attachment 1531030

how old are these chicks???