[dennis]

i got 4 light sussex bantams 7wks old when i got them home i noticed a small pimple on the back of their legs are these young males 

[Casey76]

All (or nearly all) chickens have spur buds.  In general only the males will develop spurs - but sometimes female do too (just to add to the confusion!)

[TeaPots]

the best way to tell gender of this breed, is size and colour of headgear (comb and wattles)

[VeggieVirgin]

I hatched some light sussex and light sussex x arancaunas earlier in the year, and they had these spur buds.

I couldn't tell the sexes at age 7 wks though.

[Hayley'sHens]

Glad i read the replies to this, so maybe my silkie chicks are not all males afterall 

[dennis]

thanks for that they are beautiful birds in very good condition and i was so disappointed when i saw the little buds on their legs how old do they have to be before you can tell their sex

[peter rooster]

From my experiance the best way to check for sexes is to watch for egg laying. I am down fron 8 chicks to 2 that I am hoping are going to lay and not start cock a doodling and end up in the freezer!

peter rooster

[jinty1911]

I have Silky x Sussex chooks (very broody) and would really love to hatch some eggs in the Spring but just cant handle getting rid of the boys.  Think I'll have to miss out on this one   
Jinty 

[hillfooter]

I have Silky x Sussex chooks (very broody) Jinty 

What on earthy do these look like, sounds an odd combination and two renound broody breeds it's a wonder they have time for anything other than sitting.

HF

[dennis]

but peter rooster my birds are only 7 weeks old and are no where ready to produce eggs
i could do with a fool proof way of sexing them  so i can get rid of them and so i am not feeding up cockrels

[Casey76]

Bantams are a bit harder, but usually by 7 weeks you can see a difference in comb and wattle development.

This is my LS (L/F) at 5-6 weeks



He turned out to be a beautiful, but noisy, boy

[dennis]

 :)thanks casey76
   3 of my bantams combs are slightly bigger than the 4th one is that one more likely to be a female

[Hayley'sHens]

but peter rooster my birds are only 7 weeks old and are no where ready to produce eggs
i could do with a fool proof way of sexing them  so i can get rid of them and so i am not feeding up cockrels

There will be enough meat to feed you and mum on 1 of them if you feed them up...Just dont tell mum where it came from 

[hillfooter]

LS can be difficult to sex.  My first batch of 7 all supposedly large fowl hens turned out to be 6 hens and one cock which wasn't finally decided until they had reached around 16 - 18 weeks.  I wouldn't like to start culling on the evidence of marginal differences you need a number of indicators.  Oh and one of them changed sex after about 3 years laying!  Not an unknown phenomena but rare.

HF

[dennis]

  :lol:i found that part where the she became a he funny