Help ! 6 Week Old Lavender Orpington Cockerel or Pullet??

[RockyMountainHens]

Hey all!

This is my first post on this forum and I’m excited to be a part of the community!

I just bought a Lavender Orpington chick from IFA 6 weeks ago. The hatchery says that there is a 95% chance of it being a pullet. I’ve tried doing my own research but it seems so hard to tell. I’m concerned because its crown is more developed than another Buff Orpington I’ve raised before when it was the same age. I’ll post more updated pictures at 8 weeks but I want to hear your opinions.

Is she (I hope it’s a she haha) a pullet or a cockerel? I’d like to know soon so I can decide if I need to get another lavender chick to replace it (roosters aren’t allowed in my area and I want to replace this chicken before the others grow too big that I can’t introduce another chick—don’t worry, I have some younger week old chicks)

Thank you all so much for your help! Looking forward to getting more involved and learning more. I tried to get pictures from all angles. The pictures are attached below:

 

[Yard Farmer]

LO are kinda hard to tell in my opinion also, lol.
I'm kinda leaving twards cockerel, but could be wrong. Like you said, update in a few weeks.
Also, Welcome to BYC!!

 

[CloneFly]

Hey all!

This is my first post on this forum and I’m excited to be a part of the community!

I just bought a Lavender Orpington chick from IFA 6 weeks ago. The hatchery says that there is a 95% chance of it being a pullet. I’ve tried doing my own research but it seems so hard to tell. I’m concerned because its crown is more developed than another Buff Orpington I’ve raised before when it was the same age. I’ll post more updated pictures at 8 weeks but I want to hear your opinions.

Is she (I hope it’s a she haha) a pullet or a cockerel? I’d like to know soon so I can decide if I need to get another lavender chick to replace it (roosters aren’t allowed in my area and I want to replace this chicken before the others grow too big that I can’t introduce another chick—don’t worry, I have some younger week old chicks)

Thank you all so much for your help! Looking forward to getting more involved and learning more. I tried to get pictures from all angles. The pictures are attached below:

Welcome to the BYC!! Looks like a pullet to me! My 2 LOs looked quite similar at that age. Though, there's always the possibility of it still being a roo. If it *is* a pullet, be ready for a bunch of personality! My LO keeps me laughing day after day. Here's some of her silly stories

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-daily-adventures-of-lavender.1563842/

 

[Flockking]

If it's actually 6 weeks old then she's a pullet

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I think it's a cockerel, though my Buff Orpington hens had fast comb development like that. I think I see long saddle feathers, but I can't be for sure－Lavender Orpingtons often have strange feathers like that.

 

[NatJ]

I just bought a Lavender Orpington chick from IFA 6 weeks ago. The hatchery says that there is a 95% chance of it being a pullet. I’ve tried doing my own research but it seems so hard to tell. I’m concerned because its crown is more developed than another Buff Orpington I’ve raised before when it was the same age. I’ll post more updated pictures at 8 weeks but I want to hear your opinions.

Is she (I hope it’s a she haha) a pullet or a cockerel?

I would call it "maybe male" and wait a while longer.
I've seen a number of posts in the past with chicks that had big combs for their age, and some of them did turn out to be female.

I’d like to know soon so I can decide if I need to get another lavender chick to replace it (roosters aren’t allowed in my area and I want to replace this chicken before the others grow too big that I can’t introduce another chick—don’t worry, I have some younger week old chicks)

If you are impatient for an answer, you could consider DNA sex testing:
https://orders.iqbirdtesting.com/order-bird-dna-test/
You send off a sample (a few plucked feathers or a few drops of blood-- they give instructions both ways), and the lab analyzes the DNA and lets you know which gender the bird is. Their website is currently estimating "2-4 working days" from the time they receive the sample. You get the results online, so no wait for the Post Office to get it back to you.

In most cases, it's easier to just wait for the chick to get older, and the test would cost more than the food the chick eats while it's growing, but sometimes it is worth the money to have definite results sooner.

 

[JedJackson]

I think it is a pullet. Post new photos in a couple of weeks if it is not clear by then.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think it's a cockerel, though my Buff Orpington hens had fast comb development like that. I think I see long saddle feathers, but I can't be for sure－Lavender Orpingtons often have strange feathers like that.

I think it’s a little young for saddle feathers? They don’t usually develop until around 12 weeks I think. Though it might be a little sooner. But yeah. I think this bird just has weird feathers.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think it’s a girl but Orps can be hard to tell.

 

[ShrekDawg]

@Overo Mare @ColtHandorf