15-16 Week Barred Rock or Plymouth Rock (Not sure how to tell - new at chicken farming)

[RAK023]

Pullet?

We have 50 or so pullets/cockerels of mixed breeds and genders, 8 turkeys and 9 ducks. We just came across your site on the net and figured we would put some pictures up for some help. We bought the chicks from a local farmer and didn't expect them to be sexed, but we figured we would be able to tell better by now.



This guy (we are thinking cockerel) came from a green egg.

We are thinking the one in back is a Cockerel and the one in front is a pullet? (Obviously a turkey at the far back)

 

[ramirezframing]

Pullet?
rooster does he have feathers on his legs?


both are roosters the front one is an aster egger (mix breed)

easter egger rooster (mix breed)

both are roosters and are mixes

 

[donrae]

Quick vocab lesson.....

Plymouth rocks are a breed, like say Labradors. Barred is a color, like a black lab. Rocks come in several colors: barred, white, partridge, Colombian, etc. Just like labs comb in black, yellow, chocolate.

Your birds are mixed. Rocks don't have feathers on their legs, and your birds have different colored legs also. The first bird I think is male, but I think he's younger than the stated age. He actually has very pretty, crisp barring for a mix!
The second bird is an Easter egger rooster.
The last pic, is that the same bird in front as the first pic? The back one is a male, also a barred rock mix.

I love mixed breed birds, personally. Just set 4 more eggs under a broody from my mishmash flock!

 

[RAK023]

Yes, feather's on his legs. I am so confused with trying to figure out what they are! Thanks for the help.



Here is a couple more pics.

 

[RAK023]

We got all our chicks on two different evenings, so some could be a week apart or so in age. We got them on May 23rd and May 28th and they were only just hatched. So we seem to have some darker barred chicks and some lighter grey chicks. Are both Plymouth Rocks and just different color variations? So confusing! We have so many, that it is difficult to even tell them apart from each other. We will keep adding some pictures. Thanks for any advice anyone gives.

 

[donrae]

The pictures you posted just above this show good examples of a male and female barred rock. In my understanding, barred rocks are black birds with bars of white on each feather. Males have two barring genes, which makes them have more white, and look lighter overall like the boy in the top pic. females have one barring gene, which makes them darker overall, like the pullet on the bottom.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

We got all our chicks on two different evenings, so some could be a week apart or so in age. We got them on May 23rd and May 28th and they were only just hatched. So we seem to have some darker barred chicks and some lighter grey chicks. Are both Plymouth Rocks and just different color variations? So confusing! We have so many, that it is difficult to even tell them apart from each other. We will keep adding some pictures. Thanks for any advice anyone gives.

If they are all barred Plymouth Rocks (Barred Rocks for short) then the darker birds are most likely pullets and the lighter birds are cockerels. If they are mixed (and with the feathered legs, they sure seem to be) then anything goes.

 

[RAK023]

They are mixed, so I guess we will just have to wait until they start laying or crowing! The other ones we have (many bantums) appear much easier to distinguish. Thanks.