5 Week Old Barred Rock - Pullet or Cockerel?

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aoxa

aoxa

Crowing
8 Years
Aug 8, 2011
19,044
1,296
421
Shediac Cape NB, Canada
My Coop
My Coop
Sigh.. I really hope it's not a cockerel.. She has the dark wash on her legs.. Had the small itty bitty dot at a day old.. but she is feathering in very slow, and does not look like her obvious sisters.. but she does not look like her brothers either.. She has the nicest barring out of them all..
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Here is the group of five. She is the one closest to the camera.
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Here is one of the cockerels for comparison
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A week ago... Note that all of their combs are about the same colour (except one of the cockerels).
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Fred's Hens said:
Give it another week or two.  Sometimes the nicer the bird, the harder it is to sex early.
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Oh that is so nice to hear. I drove so far to get these guys. They come from a long feathering line of Barred Rocks (see bellow) and I really wanted to have 3 girls out of it. Only this one has nicer than normal barring (from my own barred rocks to compare to).


So nothing really shouts cockerel at you?
 
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I can do hatchery BR sexing in my sleep. BUT... once you get into the true BR, from a breeder of heritage lines, all bets are off. I just got my first batch of heritage chicks from KathyinMO the other day and I'm not even going to try. They're 5 weeks and none of the cues work, at this point. Most of them have no butt fuzz, have naked necks, and are leggy as all get out. Almost nothing I know of keeping and raising Rocks for over 50 years applies. I've decided to relax and allow time to tell. They're are valuable stock, afterall, so there's no pressure as there might be with common hatchery grade stock.

 
I got my BR from Tractor Supply about 3 weeks ago. So, what are the signs that you use to determine if they are cockerels? He/She is friendly and always hops up on the waterer for me to stick my hand in to jump up on!!! Its the one on my head in the pic. However the feathers are coming in a lot better now!

Here he/she is getting a view from RJ's back

 
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Wanny07 said:
I got my BR from Tractor Supply about 3 weeks ago. So, what are the signs that you use to determine if they are cockerels? He/She is friendly and always hops up on the waterer for me to stick my hand in to jump up on!!! Its the one on my head in the pic. However the feathers are coming in a lot better now!
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BTW, cockerels are often more precocious. At 5 weeks, the typical (I say that with some caution) BR are dead easy. It's pretty much the generic, hatchery quality BR. The pullets often have front painted legs, but sometimes so do the cockerels and sometimes, neither, so front leg wash isn't reliable, But sharp, white, bright feathering on the cockerels while the pullets are darker, and spottier in appearance, That's better than leg wash. Finally, at 5 weeks, the pullets comb is usually dull, yellowish and small, while the cockerels start flaming up their combs and sporting little bright red wattles under their beaks. The combination of these things gives an genuine, distinguishing difference.

Can you tell which is which?

 
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Well hell....it looks like the one at the top of your pic is male....it also appears the one on top of my dog is a male as well!!!! Wonderful
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Wanny07 said:
Well hell....it looks like the one at the top of your pic is male....it also appears the one on top of my dog is a male as well!!!!  Wonderful :he
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Are you talking about mine?

Yeah.. Yours does appear to be male. If you can't have cockerels, that's a real bummer. My barred rock rooster is LOUD. No hiding that crow. :oops:
 
aoxa said:
Are you talking about mine?
Yeah.. Yours does appear to be male. If you can't have cockerels, that's a real bummer. My barred rock rooster is LOUD. No hiding that crow.
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No...I was talking about the one who posted right after mine :)
 
Welp, its confirmed! Harley is a Rooster :) The last two times I saw him in the morning he's made his ill faded attempt at a cock-a-doodle-do! He sounds like a boy going through a voice change. It sounds hilarious. He is only 5 weeks old...is that when they start trying to wake everyone up????

Here he is!
 
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