# Matilda a rooster??



## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

So i stole Matilda the first chick that hatched to hold her and take some pics...

She has a few tail feathers that have me wondering .... And she is starting to get some pin feathers in at 6 days old


























And her tail feathers which i am hoping are not rooster tail feathers


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Without knowing the breed I don't think you can rely on how fast or slow the peep is developing feathers.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The eggs hatched were blue eggs if that helps lol she says Easter eggers or ameracaunas she isnt sure she got them from some woman who was moving and couldn't keep them .
So basically i got Cracker Jack chicks lol


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

It's common in a lot of breeds for the males to feather slower than the females. I can give you a dozen examples in just my brooder where this isn't the case, though. But the point is the feathers certainly are not indicative of sex most of the time. 

How you tell sex in a young EE/Amer is the comb. You can sex them with relative certainty at a couple days old, then they get a bit fussy for a couple weeks, then it becomes quite obvious again. 
Males have one big row of peas with two obvious rows of smaller peas in either side. Females have one big row of peas with the peas on either side being underdeveloped and flat.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Whew so there is hope yet she is a she...


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I sent some pics to my friend in PA who has been in chickens for 20 years and she thinks Matilda is a pullet , but she to said its hard to tell .
So when both chicks are 4 months old hopefully neither of them will crow. If one does i


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I will have to find it a new home if it attacks us like my last silkie rooster did


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Count the peas. Looks like a hen to me but the comb isn't all that clear.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Maryellen said:


> I will have to find it a new home if it attacks us like my last silkie rooster did


You let a Silkie rooster intimidate you?


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Lol yep.. He was BAD and big, he was fine as a baby but once he grew up he got really bad, my neighbors little daughter is over a lot and i couldn let him hurt her. A local woman tom him and he is fine with her( she has no hens just roosters for 4h)


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

His name was Elvis, Priscilla was his main hen. He was soooo good with the hens but horrible with any person


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've had lots of Silkie males, two had bad attitudes. I rehomed one and he became a sweety. I kept the other, Bobble, who is nine now. We would have go rounds, he would learn I was bigger and stronger and then he'd behave himself for a while. For the past year he's been out with all of the others and has been a good boy. Guess once those male hormones declined he had no need to try to dominate me.

My tiny d'Uccle male was a hoot. He was fine with me but if anyone else was around they were a target. Luckily I could call him and he would allow himself to be put in his pen. Funniest thing in the world to see something that weighed ounces chasing a grown man around the coop.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

FYI, I can't even see the comb, Fiere. You either have one heck of a monitor or my cataracts are worse than I realized.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I cant see anything either just a light mark on her top beak area


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Unless you have visual problems then she's got one heck of a monitor.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I do wear glasses and contacts lol


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I am zooming in and trying to see shadows LOL!!
I can clearly see the centre row but I can't tell if the outside rows are raised or not.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Here is Martha a better shot she is 5 days old


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I see absolutely no sign of the peas that Fiere sees. But I'm also very close to having the cataracts removed because my world has turned a might fuzzy.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

The most recent pics are even harder to see than the first ones haha!

I will take some pictures of my EE babies' combs so you at least know what I'm talking about with the peas and can compare.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Fiere said:


> The most recent pics are even harder to see than the first ones haha!
> 
> I will take some pictures of my EE babies' combs so you at least know what I'm talking about with the peas and can compare.


Let's hope I can see what's there. Dang, I didn't realize how bad my sight was getting until very recently. This is the icing on the cake.

Makes me wonder about that dress thing. That one were some saw white and gold and others so blue and black? I saw white and gold, the hubs saw blue and black with the same pic.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I was able to see both colours depending on what I looked at before I looked at the pic. For the longest time I saw white and gold and then when it changed I felt like my brain exploded hahaha. Then I figured out how to change it at will. The whole thing was pretty cool, lots of science!

Anyway, here is a day old MALE Easter Egger who I have darkened to picture on so you can easily (I hope) see three vertical rows of peas in the comb:


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And you could see that in those other pics? That's like the whole silver/gold thing all over again. 

The hubs couldn't decide if I was crazy or that I thought he was lying when he said he saw the black and blue. Now I have to go find that original pic and see if I can play that game of color changes. In all the other pics of it, I saw black and blue but that one, nope.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I don't have a picture of a female clear enough for you ladies, I'll grab one when I get home 

But you can clearly see three rows above, so just imagine those side rows being flat, still lumpy, but flat.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

robin416 said:


> And you could see that in those other pics? That's like the whole silver/gold thing all over again.
> 
> The hubs couldn't decide if I was crazy or that I thought he was lying when he said he saw the black and blue. Now I have to go find that original pic and see if I can play that game of color changes. In all the other pics of it, I saw black and blue but that one, nope.


I couldn't see more than the shadows of the main row of peas in the middle. The lack of shadow on the side row has me guessing there's nothing there large enough to cast a shadow - so I guessed hen. Literally a "shot in the dark" logic, at best.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Best I can find without taking a new picture. That is a blue EE pullet there, if you want to expand the image it should be fairly obvious when compared to the male I just posted.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I could see the difference once I blew it up. When you think about it, now that there's a visual record it will help others ID EE's when they're still quite young.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Pea combs are pretty reliably sexed as day olds. I obviously wouldn't cull based on what you see at hatch - some are a bit hard to tell one way or the other, but I've yet to be proven wrong with my guesses yet. And once they're 3 weeks or so it's obvious what they are anyway.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Its hard to get them to pose and sit still lol...


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