a Jake or a Jenny?

[Big Dan]

 

[Big Dan]

 

[Deedee]

These guys are 7 and a half weeks old. There are 4 toms here.

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Dan, My hubby and I have really have took a good look at my poult since yesterday and this morning while playing with one of the barred rock hens, the only one that will play with poult. We for sure have a tom on our hands! The hen started eated out of his food bowl and I guess he didn't like it very much and displayed like I have never seen before and his whole head turned a bright red and his neck looked like it almost broken out in big bumps. I'm guessing that caruncles??

And yes ours has beautiful tailfeather also. I love the guessing games with these lil' messes.

 

[Big Dan]

Yes its a fun game. I have 10 bourbon reds that are 5 days old I will be guessing with

 

[junkprospector]

OK - after reading Dan's post - i wanted to look for some tail feathers growing in... and guess what i found!

 

[Big Dan]

Looking at the tail from that angle it definitely looks like a tom tail. See how long it extends? They always get a JumpStart on tails because they end up growing so big.

 

[wolfie115]

Looks like a tom to me, notice how bald he is? I know it may sound odd, since hens are mostly bald too, but hens also have feathers growing all the way up the back of the head. On a young tom, there will be a bit of "peach fuzz" but you can see where the feathers stop. His snood appears to be growing as well, already longer than most of my hens. You can see in the last picture you posted where the feathers stop and then there is the fuzz. Hens have hairy heads. Lol.

 

[junkprospector]

Yesterday he spend the day practicing his displaying techniques. it was the first we've all really seen him do this. He would rush over where the chickens were (we only have the 1 turkey and 13 chickens) and then start strutting his stuff around. It was pretty amazing to see.

I am still astounded at the growth these guys experience. To go from tennis ball size to a 14 pound bird in a matter of 8 weeks is incredible!