Barred Rocks!!

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We are brand new to chicken keeping. We adopted 6 assorted hens from a friend who is relocating. Of the 6 we have 2 BR, 2 SLW and 2 EE's. We also purchased 2 EE chicks for the experience of raising them up. The BR have got to be our favorite, they are by far the most friendly and curious. We named them Fred and Ricky. Fred is the best about being held, She and our daughter bond daily. I love how they run to great me when I walk out to their yard and are so inquisitive, wanting to know what you are doing at all times, they even check out my Hub's impact gun when he is using it to make changes to their enclosure, fencing or coop. Just too fun. They also seem to be my most reliable layers.

Here's the Kiddo and Fred



This is Ricky, can only tell them apart by their beak, Fred has a bit more black on her beak



Sampling my zucchini
 
400

This is my girl
 
Hi All,

I have two Barred Rocks and I thought there was a cockerel and a pullet, but I've been told lately that it might be two cockerels. Can you give me an opinion, please?









The one that has a tail poking up has been called Lightening. The one with a tail going down is Eliza. Its entirely likely that they got mixed up when they were little, but we are so new to chickens, that they just might both be boys.
 
CRSelvey said:
Hi All,

I have two Barred Rocks and I thought there was a cockerel and a pullet, but I've been told lately that it might be two cockerels. Can you give me an opinion, please?









The one that has a tail poking up has been called Lightening. The one with a tail going down is Eliza. Its entirely likely that they got mixed up when they were little, but we are so new to chickens, that they just might both be boys.
Click to expand...

Not an opinion. A fact. Have kept, raised and bred Rocks for nearly 55 years. Don't need to guess anymore than I'd guess about a young whitetail deer with buttons on his head would be a button buck, not a doe.

They are both cockerels. There is a physiological difference between the males and females. They are different, not only because of their sex, but the secondary characteristics that distinguish them as surely as bucks have antlers and does do not.

The males carry two genes for barring. Thus, the male presents with barring far different than the female. The body types are also different. The male is designed to stand tall, to be watchful over his flock and since he doesn't lay eggs but rather mounts the females, his legs are taller, thicker and his body is shaped differently. His comb matures at 7 weeks and shows red, as well as sprouting red wattles. The females, the pullets, do not display these secondary sex characteristics until nearer the onset of laying. The females barring, with one gene, gives the bird a darker, blacker appearance. The female is lower to ground in body stance as she needs to be mounted for fertility and lower to the ground to lay eggs.

The tails are different, the head shape is also different and finally, the feathering itself is altogether different.

Those are extremely handsome young cockerels you have there. Congratulations.
 

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