Here we go, wyandottes & olive eggers 😀

[BuddhaBob]

Got my birds from a somewhat local breeder,1.5 hrs away, who delivers through our area to surrounding counties. When I ordered our chicks I stated all hens except for 1 gold laced Wyandotte to be a rooster. He replied through messenger ok and we met up. One blue laced wyandotte had a curled foot that he replaced 4 weeks later with a splash wyandotte and we ordered 2 jubilee orpingtons as well (we'll get to sexing them in a month) . We asked for hens then as well. When we met and picked them up on this second delivery, he let me know he didn't vent sex them, but he did his best with wing sexing and other methods depending on breed. These are our first chicks but even I knew that only a few breeds can be winged sexed and wyandottes I don't believe to be in that category. I'm pretty sure I've probably got a couple extra roosters. This farm has a good reputation of having nice birds. He has a large variety and his property is very clean and well kept according to reviews from people who've bought from his farm directly onsite. I'm just a little unsure as to what sexes I've got. Combs and waddles on all of them have been red off and on with each at seeming random.
We received 2 silver laced wyandottes, 2 blue laced red wyandottes, 2 gold laced wyandottes, & 2 olive eggers (black maran x ameracuana) about 8 weeks ago and they ranged from 2-6 days old I believe at the time. So now I'm here to receive learned opinions. So 8 birds total with 2-4 labeled pics each. Basically 2 of each breed and labeled either #1 or #2 with the breed. Thanks in advance everyone

 

[joshschickenflock]

Got my birds from a somewhat local breeder,1.5 hrs away, who delivers through our area to surrounding counties. When I ordered our chicks I stated all hens except for 1 gold laced Wyandotte to be a rooster. He replied through messenger ok and we met up. One blue laced wyandotte had a curled foot that he replaced a 4 weeks later with a splash wyandotte and we ordered 2 jubilee orpingtons as well (we'll get to them in a month) . We asked for hens then as well. When we met and picked them up on this second delivery, he let me know he didn't vent sex them, but he did his best with wing sexing and other methods depending on breed. These are our first chicks but even I knew that only a few breeds can be winged sexed and wyandottes I don't believe to be in that category. I believe I've probably got a couple extra roosters. This farm has a good reputation of having nice birds. And he has a large variety and his property is very clean and well kept according to reviews. So regardless I know I've got nice genetics there. I'm just a little unsure as to what sexes I've got.
We received 2 silver laced wyandottes, 2 blue laced red wyandottes, 2 gold laced wyandottes, & 2 olive eggers (black maran x ameracuana) about 8 weeks ago and they ranged from 2-6 days old I believe at the time. So now I'm here to receive learned opinions. So 8 birds total with 2-4 labeled pics each. Basically 2 of each breed and labeled either #1 or #2 with the breed. Thanks in advance everyone

SL 1 COCKEREL
SL 2 PULLET
GL 1 COCKEREL?
GL 2 PULLET
BL 1 PULLET
BL 2 COCKEREL?

 

[joshschickenflock]

SL 1 COCKEREL
SL 2 PULLET
GL 1 COCKEREL?
GL 2 PULLET
BL 1 PULLET
BL 2 COCKEREL?

OE 1 COCKEREL
OE 2 how old?

 

[BuddhaBob]

OE 1 COCKEREL
OE 2 how old?

They're all around 8 weeks. Got as 1 day to 5 days old chicks on April 10th 2024.

 

[labelo]

Black laced silver 1 = cockerel
Black laced silver 2 = pullet
Black laced gold 1 = cockerel
Black laced gold 2 = pullet
Blue laced red 1 = pullet
Blue laced red 2 = unclear, leaning cockerel but better photos of the comb would help

All these are my guesses based on the comb/waddle development at 8 weeks for a wyandotte. With time feather development will be able to help confirm. The younger splash wyandotte should be fairly easy to tell by 8 weeks--in addition to comb redness/growth, males almost always have very red wings with little lacing.

 

[BuddhaBob]

Black laced silver 1 = cockerel
Black laced silver 2 = pullet
Black laced gold 1 = cockerel
Black laced gold 2 = pullet
Blue laced red 1 = pullet
Blue laced red 2 = unclear, leaning cockerel but better photos of the comb would help

All these are my guesses based on the comb/waddle development at 8 weeks for a wyandotte. With time feather development will be able to help confirm. The younger splash wyandotte should be fairly easy to tell by 8 weeks--in addition to comb redness/growth, males almost always have very red wings with little lacing.

Here's a headshot of the blue laced number 2

 

[labelo]

Here's a headshot of the blue laced number 2

I don't feel confident either way on that one. Pullets can sometimes have redder combs/waddles at a young age, so I think it could go either way.
I wouldn't get rid of any of them yet, but definitely keep an eye on those three that are possible cockerels.

And on the splash: here's a photo of a cockerel (bottom, with lots of unlaced red on his wings/shoulders) vs. a pullet (above, clearer lacing on wings). This cockerel also has the beginnings of his saddle feathers at his tail.

 

[BuddhaBob]

I don't feel confident either way on that one. Pullets can sometimes have redder combs/waddles at a young age, so I think it could go either way.
I wouldn't get rid of any of them yet, but definitely keep an eye on those three that are possible cockerels.

And on the splash: here's a photo of a cockerel (bottom, with lots of unlaced red on his wings/shoulders) vs. a pullet (above, clearer lacing on wings). This cockerel also has the beginnings of his saddle feathers at his tail.
View attachment 3855281

Thanks for the info. Not culling as it seems I have pairings of all the wyandottes that I wanted. I had planned on hatching some eggs in the future to try and get what I wanted for breeding pure colors or mixing for lacing. So if all these guys want to live together great. I've heard that if they're all raised together that quite often roosters can do quite well together actually. But I'll probably have to get hen saddles for the females. And I'll make sure they get lots of roaming range. If not I'll start a frat house and keep the boys in it and arrange dates for them when I'm ready to get hatching eggs. Already planning on building a smaller coop or two anyway for whatever needs we may have from 250 gallon water totes.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Blue laced 1 and Silver laced 2 are the only for sure pullets I see. Gold laced 2 might be, but I'm leaning cockerel. If they were guaranteed pullets you might want to ask for your money back.

 

[BuddhaBob]

Blue laced 1 and Silver laced 2 are the only for sure pullets I see. Gold laced 2 might be, but I'm leaning cockerel. If they were guaranteed pullets you might want to ask for your money back.

Wasn't guaranteed. I requested hens except for one through FB messenger and got ok in response. He then offered and did replace a chick with a curled foot. They were $10 a piece while Tractor Supply had 2 of the breeds for $4 with 90% guaranteed female at the same time. Kinda kicking myself in the butt. But then again my wife and I have both decided that selling eggs isn't as interesting as growing the breed. Selling hatching eggs and maybe chicks might be more fun. We're retired and wanted chickens and were really kind of wondering what to do. With no more than 11 females expected in the beginning, there weren't really enough to be enough to sell eggs, at least not until we hatched a much bigger flock to make it worth it. And that was a little intimidating for us and not what we're really wanted. So this might be more interesting considering it seems we might have pairs of each color strain. And we can keep our flock now to a smaller size with a max of 20 at any given time, and still enjoy breeding them and making some feed and maintenance costs back for the hobby selling of hatching eggs and chicks. I will of course have myself trained in vent sexing before then. We were actually trying to find a good reason to keep chickens. We knew we wanted them for their interesting habits and such, but wanted to do something more. And this might have just been the niche that we can fill.