Sexing Barred Rocks

[MissB]

I'm sorry to have to 'rain on your parade' here but I breed, incubate, and sell Barred Rocks and I'm very good at sexing
them at two-three days of age as that is when the people who have 'pre-ordered' from me come by to pick them up.

Most of the folks who have purchased my birds recontact me and have verified that my sexing of their chicks was accurate.

Of course, there is no guarantee at that age, and that's what I say in my advertising but from 'experience' I've gotten
pretty good at it.

I believe from what I can see in the photos that all of the birds pictured are males.  My birds are all descended from my Meyer Hatchery stock but the overall darker black color in the females vs. the kind of smoky dark grey of the males and the much darker 'wash' on the front of the legs on the females with the black stopping abruptly at the toes in the females vs. the lighter grey going all the way into the toes of the male or absent wash on the males legs.

Also, female birds generally have a much smaller and more well defined white spot on their heads whereas the males have a more diffuse blotch of white on the head that, continues down the back of the neck and around the sides as well.

Can you help me sex my Bared Rock? He/She is almost 9 weeks old.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Can you help me sex my Bared Rock? He/She is almost 9 weeks old.

I will try to help...can you post a picture?

 

[GuppyTJ]

Soukilee93, What did you end up with? Which chicks turned out to be hens and roos? I ask because I have 2 barred rock chicks about 3 weeks old and they both have very distinct white bars on their wings so I suspect both are cockerals. Your pics are some of the best I've seen so I wanted to see what I canlearn from your experience.

Thanks,
Guppy

 

[Avonshire]

Do you find your barred rocks to be so sweet and friendly? I just love mine!!

 

[soukilee93]

Soukilee93, What did you end up with? Which chicks turned out to be hens and roos? I ask because I have 2 barred rock chicks about 3 weeks old and they both have very distinct white bars on their wings so I suspect both are cockerals. Your pics are some of the best I've seen so I wanted to see what I canlearn from your experience.

Thanks,
Guppy

GuppyTJ, I ended up with 4 roos and 2 pullets. Errrr!! I have included my pics from 5 weeks of age and am posting which ones were which for you.

Well here are some updated pics. Having a hard time getting them to sit still for the pics so had to take what I could get. They are at 5 weeks now.

#1 - ROOSTER

#2 - ROOSTER


#3 - PULLET - Sweetie

#4 - ROOSTER


#5 - PULLET - Blue

#6 - ROOSTER

All of the distinct differences that I read everywhere about leg wash, the dots on the head, etc went right out the window with these chicks. I hope this helps you!! I know how frustrating it is not knowing.

 

[soukilee93]

Do you find your barred rocks to be so sweet and friendly? I just love mine!!

Actually, I ended up selling mine off. I found them to be hogs of the nest boxes and aggressive towards my other hens. They are now, of course, happily behaving themselves at their new home. Go figure!!!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Actually, I ended up selling mine off. I found them to be hogs of the nest boxes and aggressive towards my other hens. They are now, of course, happily behaving themselves at their new home. Go figure!!!

The girls should be ok if they are the only breed, though...right? Your other hens were not BR's I'm assuming? All I have are BR's (and two Commercial Blacks, which I'm still researching...they look just like BR's) and mine seem to be very sweet...but the older ones are only 8 weeks old, so I'm sure their demeanor will change as they get older.

 

[soukilee93]

The girls should be ok if they are the only breed, though...right? Your other hens were not BR's I'm assuming? All I have are BR's (and two Commercial Blacks, which I'm still researching...they look just like BR's) and mine seem to be very sweet...but the older ones are only 8 weeks old, so I'm sure their demeanor will change as they get older.

Every chicken is different, just like people. Some are nicer than others even across the same breed. They did not initially start off aggressive, and I should say all of them were not aggressive. One of my newbies that we raised from a chick and one of the others I got at laying stage were the culprits. They were great until one of them went broody and then they all wanted to "own" the nests. After giving them a bigger coop and more boxes it didn't change. My one broody finally broke after 3 months, but at that point it didn't matter. The aggression was mainly towards one chicken, my Splash Marans, and she stands out from the rest, but they were the only breed causing problems. The rest of my girls are Golden Comets, a bantam barnyard mix and a Orp/Brahma mix. Like I said though, since being re-homed they are behaving themselves and the people who got them have a variety of chickens. Not sure what the big deal was here, but I wasn't going to tolerate it.

I have had many people tell me how wonderful theirs are and others tell me of the aggression. You just never know.

 

[GuppyTJ]

GuppyTJ, I ended up with 4 roos and 2 pullets. Errrr!! I have included my pics from 5 weeks of age and am posting which ones were which for you.

Thanks for this, Soukilee93. I went back and looked at your 7 week pics to look at the barring some more, matching with your 5 week old pics and which were roos and which were pullets. I was trying to use the barring to figure out my 2 BRs, which I suspect are both roos. Both have very well defined white bars across their wings, vs. just sort of random-ish spots. They're about 3 1/2 weeks old so I think I'll just have to wait. But, I think they're roos none the less.

Much thanks, very helpful. Quite a long-running post you have here! Nicely done!

 

[GuppyTJ]

GuppyTJ, I ended up with 4 roos and 2 pullets. Errrr!! I have included my pics from 5 weeks of age and am posting which ones were which for you.

Soukilee93, In my prior reply, I hit "submit" too fast. I meant to end with that I'm sorry for your mix of 4 and 2. This is hard, you get attached and put so much time and effort and not to mention a bit of money into them. I have 12 chicks (first batch ever) and so am spending WAY too much time trying to figure out what they are. Need to just stop it and enjoy their little chick stage. It's hard at times, I'm finding, being responsible for these little lives. I just had to put down one of my chicks this morning (didn't grow at all in the 2 1/2 weeks I had him and was finally dieing despite my many attempts to help and protect and nuture him) and it was tough. But I did it. Guess that's just how it goes with these little creatures. Natures way to take/not let the weak survive... sigh.

Guppy