Sex of Barred Rock Chick -- Millie or Milliard?

[Freyja]

Well, this is encouraging -- I'm breathing a small sigh of relief tonight. Thanks to all of you for your responses!

speckledhen:
What would make this chick's sex be more certain? And what should I be looking for (or hoping not to see!) in the coming weeks?

 

[The Gingerbread Man]

Girl.

 

[walkswithdog]

Maybe girl. Indeterminant leg color. Boys will tend to larger combs faster and very little tail compared to girls. Since you don't have any others you'll have to post more pics.

 

[Kitsap Cluckers]

Definitely has girlie traits, but it's so hard to tell!

 

[speckledhen]

When the wings are fully feathered, it will be more obvious then. And if she gets a cute little tail within the first week or so, that is usually a pullet.

 

[Freyja]

Quote:
Is this the same for other breeds as well? I'm seeing some cute tails on the BR, BO and SLW. The RIR has a very small one but can't see a tail of note on the LORP. I would be very sad if that one's a roo, that chick is the sweetest of the bunch at this point.

 

[walkswithdog]

How well it predicts is usually breed dependent and sometimes line dependent but in Rocks generally girls get tails and full wing feather first - some individuals end up odd man out.

I have had some really slow feathered pullets but they've been rare. In the dark colored rocks the girls more often have far darker legs and the color extends well onto the toes (barred, black, blue, partridge).

Boys wing bows feather in late and so do their backs, girls get a wide full swath of back feather, boys a thin line.

Once you know your birds it's easier but when you've only one representative of the breed it's a ton harder.

I'm glad I stuck with one breed for awhile before branching out, I'd have been eternally guessing.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Like speckledhen said, BOTH sexes have the head spots.

 

[barredcountrycoop]

I'd go with hen as well based on the color on the front of her legs. Just got 15 chicks to 4 months old and the leg color was pretty accurate for sex.

 

[walkswithdog]

A chick with legs that light in my coop is a boy. My girls run much more uniformly and thoroughly dark of leg and toes.