[pandora]

Of the poo-splattered eggs (see earlier thread) I had 3 Maran chicks and 2 Poland chicks hatch (The hen was sitting on 7 eggs.) I'm quite happy with telling the girls from the boys with the Marans, but have no idea where to start with the Polands. They are 4 days old and already they look a bit different from each other. How can I recognise if I have girlies?

On a slightly different note - my mum had her first go at hatching eggs recently. She is happy with the idea that all cockerels are Sunday lunch. 12 eggs hatched, and are now 7 weeks old. I asked her how many of each she had, and she said they all look the same, except one. I told her she should be able to tell by now. I saw them for the first time today - 11 boys! How bad luck is that!

[Caralou]

errmmm, well, I still haven't worked mine out  They are now 12 weeks + and some are with TMG now in a lovely new home and some still with me, and other than two that I'm 80% certain are boys (and could only tell that by their attitude at 10 weeks) I have no idea. Jelly may be on to assist, but there is really no sure fire way with Polands until they crow or lay I'm afraid, you can use diff methods to guess but that's all it is, a guess 

[peachesandclive]

I had three Poland chicks and went through the same process. I have scoured the www and the definitive answer appears to be that you'll only really know when they reach maturity and start laying/crowing. That said, of my three, one started to look significantly different from the other two at around 6 weeks. By last weekend (11 weeks) 2 of them had got lovely pompoms, whilst the other (the male) had more of a spiky, just got out of bed look going on! Additionally, he had started to cluck whilst the others are still cheeping. The clincher though, was when he flew onto the fence, stretched out his neck and made a noise that sounded like he was being strangled.

[cathangirl]

Pandora,
How do you know the difference with Marans, please?
cathangirl

[Caralou]

Yep, my (80% sure) boy has started rosey whereas Pudd still cheaps. The boy is also now double sized. Thing is he has developed a pompom head as opposed to the spiky updo that boys should have. Guess they just like being awkward!

[joyfull]

just when you thought you'd sussed it 

[Caralou]

Peaches, how big are yours now? Could you post photos. I'm really worried about the size of my girls, tiny little things. I had from day one so know they have been fed well and looked after, just being a worried mum  hen myself and yours are just about the same age for me to look at 

[pandora]

I'll just have to wait and see then! Knowing my luck I'll get 2 obnoxious boys to step into their daddy's shoes.

With the Marans (mine are cuckoo Marans) the girls always seem to be a slightly darker colour than the boys and there is a very obvious difference in comb size early on.