# Australorps & Rhode Island Reds - Help!



## mattd1089 (Mar 10, 2016)

First time caller, long time listener here! My wife and I finally dove in to the "egg business" after talking about it for years. I've been reading lots of articles on sexing our three Australorps & three RIRs and I am just still not sure. I realize we can't be 100% certain, but I figure someone on here will recognize some features that I don't see or understand. 
The Australorps have me stumped. Two have combs growing, one does not. But one that has a comb growing also has long pointy tail feathers, as does the comb-less one. Thoughts??


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Hello and welcome to the Chicken Forum! Personally, I think they're still a little bit young to tell. So far the wing test on 1 to 3 day old chicks has worked for me. At the end wing "joint" a chick with 2 rows of feathers is female and a single row is male.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I'm too much of a noob to help you with sexing your birds but I can say Welcome!


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Welcome to the chicken forum!It's a nice place to be and a good place to ask questions.I,personally,can not tell the difference,I wait til they start crowing at about 4-5 mos old.I have noticed that cockerels seem to be bigger than the pullets.Sorry,that's all I got.You'll get more answers as the day goes on....


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Hi Matt, welcome to CF! It's too early to tell. Sometimes one chick will mature faster than others.


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## mattd1089 (Mar 10, 2016)

Updated pictures, about a month older than the first ones I uploaded. I am thinking 2/3 Australorps are roosters. Thoughts?


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I don't know. It looks like one or two I can see look like they have round feathers where a roo would get long pointy narrow feathers on their back.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

2 black roos and 1 red roo is what I'm thinking.


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## esnova (Sep 30, 2015)

Of my 6 australorps 2 looked like roosters till the day they played an egg.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I do think that 2/3 australorps are girls. The one to the far left I can't see the feathers clear enough.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I just wait until I hear one or more crow, then donate them to the feed store.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I'm like Dawg,I wait until 4-5 mos when they start to crow.I quit aggravating myself trying to determine sex with chicks.I was usually wrong.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I had real confusion last year. 10 silkies hatch, after all my brain work for months of staring at them, 7 were roos!


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## esnova (Sep 30, 2015)




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## esnova (Sep 30, 2015)

Not sure if my room is being too rough with this one or if I have something else going on.....any ideas?


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

That's what roos do.


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## esnova (Sep 30, 2015)

All the others are fairing just fine. No sign of mites. Just made me wonder


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