2 week old barred rocks...possible hens or roos?

[dsfrango]

Back to your overhead shot.



Do you see the head spots? On the pullet, the head spot is tiny while on the cockerels, the spot is more a splotch. These chicks are juuuuuuuust young enough to still see the difference. Head spotting is only 75-85% accurate, but there it is and it is tell tale.

Again, it is a matter of seeing, or recognizing by familiarity, seeing traits over and over and over again. The ability to see the difference in sex of a Barred Rock chick becomes as distinguishable as discerning the difference in look in a washer and dryer. To a visitor from the 18th century, they would both look like big, square boxes, sitting side by side. LOL

Here's some chicks in our brooder two weeks ago. The sex was easily recognized as they dried in the hatcher. Two pullets and a cockerel. As you can likely tell, I really, really love the breed. These are ringlet, heritage BRs.

Wow thank you Fred's Hens! Very informative. That is unfortunate though majority are cockerels

Ill be a pro taking your advice hahaha

 

[popsicle]

So I guess I will wait and see because I still have two different responses. LOL


Greenchickenman; I hope you are right. I ordered 4 pullets.

Popsicle; I assume you mean I have three cockerels and one pullet? How did you decide that?

The top pic does look like the chick has a red comb starting however I think it is the light. None of them have any red on them at all.
Thanks anyway. I'll wait till I hear a crow. LOL

Let's hope TSC wasn't that wrong.

No, I was talking about dsfrango's photo. Start your own thread if you want to avoid this confusion.

 

[Younger]

Sorry, thought anyone could join in.

 

[greenchickenman]

I don't know about all this feather striped stuff and head spots. I have hundreds of barred rock chicks myself. I have seen them grow up to have thick stripes, thin stripes, some lighter shades and some darker shades, some have light heads and some have dark heads. The same as yours in your pictures. I have determined you cannot sex a bird that way, I mean I don't want to offend anyone but its just not accurate. I think you have all pullets but only time will tell. If they are three weeks old and don't have red in their combs yet, I gaurantee you have all pullets.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I don't know about all this feather striped stuff and head spots. I have hundreds of barred rock chicks myself. I have seen them grow up to have thick stripes, thin stripes, some lighter shades and some darker shades, some have light heads and some have dark heads. The same as yours in your pictures. I have determined you cannot sex a bird that way, I mean I don't want to offend anyone but its just not accurate. I think you have all pullets but only time will tell. If they are three weeks old and don't have red in their combs yet, I gaurantee you have all pullets.

Good advice, actually. The high margin for error is always there when trying to sex chicks only 3 or 4 weeks old. 5 weeks on hatchery stock or 7 weeks on heritage, true bred stock is the key time. The cockerels will sprout red combs and wattles while the pullets sprout no wattles and the combs are still a duller yellow.

It's hard to keep saying to overly excited, nervous folks, wait. Just wait. Just wait. LOL Folks here often post pictures of chicks just a few days old and want to know what sex it is. Patience is indeed a virtue. Time tells all.

 

[greenchickenman]

Good advice, actually.  The high margin for error is always there when trying to sex chicks only 3 or 4 weeks old.  5 weeks on hatchery stock or 7 weeks on heritage, true bred stock is the key time.  The cockerels will sprout red combs and wattles while the pullets sprout no wattles and the combs are still a duller yellow.

It's hard to keep saying to overly excited, nervous folks, wait.  Just wait. Just wait. LOL    Folks here often post pictures of chicks just a few days old and want to know what sex it is.  Patience is indeed a virtue.   Time tells all.

I will go along with that.

 

[DixieChicken78]

I just aquired 4 barred chickies. I have absolutely no idea what they could be. Combs are all the same and a bit too late to feather sex but I heard the white spot on the head may indicate the sex/ Help please! Thanks!

I say both pullets. Both chicks have a very condensed, white spot on top. No scattering of the spot. That is supposed to indicate them being female. I didn't get my BRs until their down feathers were almost all gone so I missed out on that cute black fuzzy phase!

 

[daphneysmamma]

I have 3 of these I got from greenchickenman... I love them . They r so sweet. One of mine walks right up to u n " talks " lol.

 

[Mel281]

OK, I know this is old, but I;m trying to sex my 2 week BR (only have one now) and curious how these turned out. I too thought 3 M, 1F. dsfrango?

 

[Namatiti]

Hello
I have only one Plymouth Barred Rock chick and he is 2.5 weeks and I can’t compare with other too see the difference between boy and girl. Can someone help me and tell me if is a boy please? His legs wasn’t black In first day but now everyday getting darker on the front. He already has a comb and we call him Pingu