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Author Topic: Wheaten maran hen or cockerel?  (Read 2304 times)

wannabesmallholder

  • Joined Jan 2017
Wheaten maran hen or cockerel?
« on: May 20, 2018, 09:30:49 am »
I’d be grateful for any thoughts on these photos. We have some 15 week old chickens, hatched from eggs. The query I have is about the ones that were hatched from wheaten maran eggs. We have 2 cockerels definitely - as you can see in the pictures. And one other one which I had thought was a hen as due to shape of back and tail. However, I was looking at pictures of wheaten marans online and the cockerels look like ours but the hens seem to be much lighter and very different colourings to our “hen”. One picture shows the “hen” next to a cockerel for comparison.

Many thanks.

vegpatch

  • Joined Oct 2016
Re: Wheaten maran hen or cockerel?
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2018, 09:46:13 am »
The 2 birds in the 3rd picture both look like cockerels to me - Wheaten maran hens have a very different colouring but the wattles, comb and saddle and tail feathers on the less colourful bird all look like those of a cockerel.  Sorry.

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Wheaten maran hen or cockerel?
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2018, 10:20:19 am »
All cocks I'm afraid. Hens are more partridgey. I think Wheaton marrans can be sexed at hatching, or perhaps it was just very early? -if you do more. Although I forget the traits I used to look for, I'm sure you'll be able to Google it.
With sexing chicks at various ages its often easy to decide some obvious cocks and hens at some point, then there's some 'prob cocks, not sure' ones. I nornally let these go under the radar for far too long. I found it was best to keep the most obvious cock chick as well as any 'maybe' ones. As they age the ' maybe ones' become less like the hans and more like proper cocks, having the male bench mark makes it easier to see this.

Edited to add: just read you post, it's the black one you're asking about - sorry! She's not wheaten, may still be French marrans? Are her legs are feathered? Worth asking breeder what else they have and might have mixed eggs up with.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 10:26:29 am by Steph Hen »

wannabesmallholder

  • Joined Jan 2017
Re: Wheaten maran hen or cockerel?
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2018, 03:01:30 pm »
No [member=28951]Steph Hen[/member] you were right first time - it’s the brown ones I’m asking about. The black one (Orpington) kept photo bombing!!

Thanks both. 2 of the three are making a one way journey on Tues - sorry boys  :-\

 

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