Need Help: My Little Chicken's Gender...

[HippiAiti]

I have a chick I am very attached to. It is a barred rock, my only hatch, who loves to sit and talk with me. I live in suburbia though and can only have hens. So here's some pics...

One day old:

One week old:

About 3 weeks old:

1 month old, on her/his favorite perch (me):

A few days ago (2.5-ish months old)

What do you think? Is my baby a roo? Or will I get lucky and get to keep her?

 

[poultrykeeper08]

i think its a roo

 

[willowcol]

I vote roo also, sorry. I just loved my BR chicks also, bought 6 2 day old chicks (guy said he sexed them and they were hens). Guess what all roo's. I still have 1 since they were just to sweet. The comb is just so red at 2.5 months to be a hen.

 

[Teresaann24]

Its a roo BR hens are alot darker then the roos.

For Reference

Hen

Roo

 

[vermontgal]

I think it's a roo, too. Sorry. I hope I'm wrong!?

Here's my "iffy" BR at 8 or 9 weeks. Mine was iffy because of the comb which was very large for that age. She turned out to be a pullet (her name is Sam). But I was also thinking she would have to go.

Yours, I think is a roo, because of the lighter feather coloring, and very little black "splash" on the fronts of the legs and feet (pullets have more). As day-olds, BR pullets have a very concentrated white spot on their heads, whereas the cockerels have a more diffuse (fuzzy) white spot. Yours looks fuzzy.

 

[HippiAiti]

Oh my gosh... so sad... I was out there this afternoon reading a book while they free ranged the backyard and he was circling me trying to get my attention. Finally he jumps up and lands on my book and starts talking to me!! He's just so sweet and seems just as attached to me as I am to him. DH thinks it's cute in a weird sort of way.

So, is there ANY ethical way to prevent him from ever crowing??

 

[Mahonri]

..."ethical way to prevent him from crowing"....

that has to be one of the most interesting ways I've ever heard that question asked.

Short answer. "NO".

He is a beautiful little roo.

About right now we are wishing we had a purebred Americauna roo of some sort and a way to keep the neighbors happy if he makes noise.

 

[HorseFeathers]

I agree, a definite roo. Sorry, I don't think there's any "ethical way" to stop his crowing. I think i heard of an operation that removes their voice box, but I think its very expensive. I feel your pain. In a neighborhood, even a loud hen-skwak might spell trouble with a neighbor who wants to pick a fight.
However! We found that many of our neighbors "loved the sound of crowing" and actually asked if we were going to have roos. Nobody minded the hens either. Ask around! Also, you might be able to get a waiver on the law if your neighbors say it's OK. Or, like me, you can go try and change the law.... (We actually had to do it to get just 6 HENS).

 

[DTchickens]

You can always sex chicks yourself. the method i use (when they're couple months old and you can tell by feather growth/color ) IS, by the stage roosters will have about twice the size of a comb then the hens. Roosters saddle/hackle feathers come to points (Also called daggers... Sickles. and whatever you want to call them) as does the tail once it starts to grow.. Also by the stage you can pick them up and look at they're spurs. roosters will have bumps, Hens most likely will not (you'll see be able to see where the spur would be though.. ) there are those hens that grow spurs but they usually never get good size spurs until about the 1st year.. maybe year and half while roosters have fair size spurs at 8 months

 

[crazychickenboy]

im thinkin a roo