Gender? Dominique chick

[Faraday40]

Happy July 4th! We woke up to an unexpected Dominique chick in the incubator. (PO scrambled the eggs but one managed to develop & HATCH!)

I am inexperienced with this breed, so i'm having trouble identifying a chick that should be sexable.
Is this a male or female? The spot isn't a perfect circle, nor are the legs all black.
Does anyone have an idea? Do I need to wait a day or two?

 

[Faraday40]

Here's the orig chick from the start of this thread. She's with her BFF, a sebright. They're about 21 weeks old now.

 

[Michael OShay]

It's too young to sex accurately at this point. As it feathers out, if it's a male it will have light barring and it's comb will begin reddening up shortly afterward. If it's a female it will have dark barring. I would suggest posting its pic again in about 5-6 weeks. By then its gender should be much more obvious.

 

[jenna2030]

I'm not sure it is starting to look like a roo but it could also be a hen my hen looked like that when she was a chick we though she was a roo

 

[jenna2030]

If u hold it by its head gentlely and it goes crazy kicking and fighting it's a roo if it's calm it's a hen sometimes this dosent work on some breeds I've never raised that breed I am looking forward it

 

[junebuggena]

If u hold it by its head gentlely and it goes crazy kicking and fighting it's a roo if it's calm it's a hen sometimes this dosent work on some breeds I've never raised that breed I am looking forward it

This is not an accurate way to sex chicks. Also, please don't pick your chicks up by their heads. It's not a very safe way to hold them.

 

[Toddrick]

This is not an accurate way to sex chicks. Also, please don't pick your chicks up by their heads. It's not a very safe way to hold them.

I agree. But I did accurately sex my five chicks by holding them from underneath, with my middle finger between the legs and other fingers outside them, in a very natural and comfortable way. When I lifted, the pullets let their legs dangle limp, but the cockerels would flap their wings to get their feet up onto the palm of my hand. It surely isn't a 100% accurate way to sex chicks, but there is something to all the myths I think.

 

[junebuggena]

Every single one of my birds as chicks would flap like crazy when they were picked up. They still don't like being handled. I have 11 confirmed pullets and only one cockerel. The whole pullets go still thing is not accurate at all.

 

[Toddrick]

Every single one of my birds as chicks would flap like crazy when they were picked up. They still don't like being handled. I have 11 confirmed pullets and only one cockerel. The whole pullets go still thing is not accurate at all.

It probably depends on the breed/breeding. My pullets went completely limp when I lifted them from underneath during the first week or two. After that of course they all became skittish. At best you could use it as a sign that it might be a pullet, combined with other signs. The other signs in my breeding were that the females had longer wing feathers, and thinner legs.

But the head spot is supposed to be the single most reliable way to sex a Dominiquer (if you know what you're doing, which I do not ):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/798635/sight-sexing-barred-plymouth-rock-chicks-at-hatch

 

[Michael OShay]

This is not an accurate way to sex chicks. Also, please don't pick your chicks up by their heads. It's not a very safe way to hold them.

X2 on that. Only the redness of the comb and the shade of the barring will tell the sex for sure as they age.