Golden Comet and Ameraucana Sexing

[toria651]

I have 14 chicks total, 8 Golden Comets and 6 Ameraucana’s/ possibly EE chickens (my mom said they’re the same thing, but I’ve read they’re two different breeds, any ideas?). In case you couldn’t tell my family is a first time chicken owner family so we’re working things out as they come along. We bought our chicks from a local feed store (we live in MN), but they were hatched in Missouri with a 98% female accuracy rate. Right now they’re 5 weeks old as of yesterday and we’re wondering if we have any roosters, or if they’re all hens (not sure if it’s too early to tell, but I’ve seen posts of 3 week old chicks getting sexed so I figured why not try). We’re getting a few more later this week from a local farmer so we want to know if we need a rooster or not because we’d like to have at least one in our flock if we don’t already. Let me know what you think, any input is greatly appreciated!

Golden Comet #1, Latifah:



Golden Comet #2, Olive :


Golden Comet #3, Guava:


Golden Comet #4, Lina:


Golden Comet #5, Helga:


Golden Comet #6, Ole:


Golden Comet #7, Ruby:


Golden Comet #8, Marihen:



Ameraucana #1, Guido:



Ameraucana #2, Chi:


Ameraucana #3, Gertrude:


Ameraucana #4, Nico:


Ameraucana #5, Mo:


Ameraucana #6, Houdini:





Let me know what you think

 

[junebuggena]

They all look like pullets. Golden Comet cockerels are solid white with just a few red feathers. Feed stores do not sell pure Ameraucana. They have Easter Eggers that the hatcheries call Ameraucana to intentionally mislead people. Easter Eggers may have some Ameraucana in their genes from several generations past, but have been crossbred with other breeds to increase the somewhat poor laying rate of pure Ameraucana. If you just wanted some pretty eggs, Easter Eggers are the better choice, just understand that they are not a pure breed. You will not be guaranteed blue eggs though. They can lay blue, green, or brown.

 

[Michael OShay]

They all look like pullets. Golden Comet cockerels are solid white with just a few red feathers. Feed stores do not sell pure Ameraucana. They have Easter Eggers that the hatcheries call Ameraucana to intentionally mislead people. Easter Eggers may have some Ameraucana in their genes from several generations past, but have been crossbred with other breeds to increase the somewhat poor laying rate of pure Ameraucana. If you just wanted some pretty eggs, Easter Eggers are the better choice, just understand that they are not a pure breed. You will not be guaranteed blue eggs though. They can lay blue, green, or brown.

X2 on junebuggena's post. )

 

[toria651]

How can you tell they're pullets? Sorry, I'm new at this

 

[fire370]

Here are 4 day old golden comets, red sex links or whatever you want to call them. These are my hatches. Pullets on the left and cockerel on the right. They are sex linked meaning pullets will be born with color and cockerels born yellow.

 

[toria651]

These were two of my golden comets at less than a week old

 

[Michael OShay]

How can you tell they're pullets? Sorry, I'm new at this

Golden Comet is one of a number of labels under which some hatcheries market their Red Sex Links which can be sexed by color, either at hatching or after they feather out. Once they feather out (like yours), female Red Sex Links are reddish with some white feathers in the tail area. Male Red Sex Links are white with a smattering of reddish feathers in the saddle are. Your Easter Eggers all a single row of peas in their combs which marks them as pullets; Easter Egger cockerels have much wider combs with three rows of peas in them.

 

[toria651]

Follow up question: can I breed normal sized hens with a bantam rooster? We don't care if our chickens are mixed, but we're also not sure if the size difference prohibits the breeds from crossing.

 

[junebuggena]

I'm not sure how effective he will be, but I can assure you that he will try his darndest to breed them.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

All look like pullets to me, and you certainly can cross a bantam roo to standard hens, just not vice versa as the egg could be too small. If the roo can pull it off, it works great! I have hatched many with no problems