Another "Is this a boy or a girl?"

Drewnkat

Songster
11 Years
Mar 27, 2008
176
43
191
Georgia
There seem to be plenty of these topics, but I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread, so here I am.

I got my chicks about 3 weeks ago from Meyer hatchery, sexed as pullets.

I have 6 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Easter Eggers.

One of the Red Sisters is starting to make me wonder if I have one Red Brother instead. I decided to take pictures, and see if anyone with more experience wants to chime in.

Top view



Underside of beak, possible wattle development?


One of the girls, same batch, same exact age, smaller comb.





Another view of the suspicious comb:



Side-by-side comparison of two of them:




By the way, it is ridiculously hard to take pictures of these critters. Lots of patience is needed while trying to snap a picture where they aren't moving and making it blurry! If any of these are blurry, you should know the ones I deleted were way worse, this was the best I could manage! Next time I will try to enlist someone else to either pick up the birds, or hold the camera.
 
Last edited:
I'm not going to call it until the fat lady sings (or the fat chicken crows?) but the comb has darkened just in the last few days, and the developing wattles are more pronounced.

The bird with the comb also has thick legs, but there are several other birds with legs that are too close to call, are similar size body-frame, but no comb development to speak of.

Even if this bird turns out to be a roo I still wouldn't change a thing. One chick out of eight ending up a rooster is well within margin of error, and they have all been healthy happy birds for the past four weeks. I plan to order from Meyer again next time we want more birds.
 
long tail feathers compared to one or the other at that age are hens.. short tail feathers when compared to others are roos.. the wings feathers are also real short on roos when 3-5 weeks
 
The top may be a cockeral,Large comb Pretty big body.the 1 with wattles developing looks like a Pullet.Rest look likew pullets!

The top picture and the second picture are the same bird from top of the head and under the chin. :)

A week on from the first post, and I am feeling more certain every day that this is a rooster.

The comb is even larger, darker, and the suspicious pink patches have begun to droop down a bit. The tail feathers are shorter, feather development overall seems slightly behind the others.

It may be confirmation bias, but this one also seems more assertive. From the beginning there was one of the Reds that would be the first one to jump up on your hand, first one to come running up when you put fresh food down, and I think it's the same bird. Front is the possible roo, behind is one of the Easter Eggers.

 
Well, I am now very sure we have a rooster. Just look at this big handsome fellow:



Had a talk about him today with DH. He had been saying all along that we were not keeping any roosters, but now he's changed his mind. I've been hearing about how roosters can be good for guarding the girls from potential threats, he's been thinking that if we have one go broody, we could hatch some out and not have to pay shipping.
yesss.gif


I mentioned the possibility of putting the Easter Egger eggs to hatch, and seeing how we do with RIR/EE cross birds. He seemed to think that sounded like fun, so as long as Mister Winner behaves himself, he can keep on "winning." Otherwise, it's going to be "Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner."
 
That's how things go here. If you're respectful, and pretty, you can stay. If you're aggressive or just plain obnoxious, or I just have too many of you, well.....






 
Well, he was sold from Meyer hatchery as a Rhode Island Red pullet, but as we all know chick sexing isn't 100% accurate.

I am not really clear on what sets apart a "production red" from a RIR, if there is any universal "breed standard" or anything.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom