[SnooziSuzi]

Hi all,

As you may know I recently took on 4 Light Sussex babies (11 weeks old).  

well they're now aprox 17 weeks old and 3 are much larger than the 4th one.  The smallest one doesn't have many black tail feathers (I think they have moulted out, even though he/she is so young) but the other 3 are much larger and one of them appears to have tail feathers which are growing in a characteristic long and arched way that cockerel feathers do.

The neck feathers are still quite short, like a hens, but I was concerned that with the tail feathers and the larger size that I've actually got 3 boys and a girl.

Pics will follow on my day off on Friday but for now can anyone tell me what I should look out for at this stage?

[kenny d]

I have a few light sussex and sussex crosses,  the thing that has worked best to sex them for me is the shade of the comb , i find the males tend to have much darker comb than the females , Has worked reasonably well for me , hope this helps Kenny D

[Bodger]

I can just tell, but I find it hard to put into words how. Their combs are much more pronounced and its simply their shape and demeanor with LS.

In some breeds, the male and the female of the same breed are simply different colours, which makes life easier.

Stick some good pictures on when you can and it should be easy to tell at that age.

[chookiepaula]

I always wait for the 'cockerel' feathers to appear to be sure, the thin shiny ones around base of tail and neck - although some let out a crow before then which is usually a safe way to sex them!!

[SnooziSuzi]

Thanks guys;  pics to follow on saturday


the largest one has a couple of long tail feathers that are arching over, but not the long neck feathers and the combs of all of them are still quite pale;  they are small combed one's like the ones in this picture (not my birds, just a google search for LS)

surest thing is to wait for the pics I think... Just hope they'll behave enough to photograph them now!  :roll: