4.5 month old RIR...girl or boy??

[Chris09]

That's nice, but what I'm saying is npeasley6's birds are not RIR and a closer pic would help

I agree,
As I said,"none of the pictures posted in this thread were Rhode Island Reds."
There were 6 pictures posted none were R.I. Reds.

Chris

 

[npeasley6]

My main question was if it was a male or female...not really worried about her breed cause I really just like her and hoping she is a her because that is the only way I can keep it...lol...breed isn't important to me Do I need to post another pic to ensure that or was it just for the breed?

 

[aoxa]

I would post another picture to be sure. At 4.5 months old, that comb is quite large.. Though it's entirely possible it could be a hen. Post a picture at an angle that looks like this:

It will be much easier for us to determine gender if you show us the feathering.

 

[npeasley6]

Ok hopefully these are better? Thanks!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

OP's bird is a pullet, ready to lay her first egg any day now. No matter what kind of "red" she is, she doesn't have the hackle feathers or saddle feathers or tail feathers to be a rooster. Here's my production red boy. Notice the huge wattles, hackle feathers and saddle feathers. Your bird has none of these. Also, if the bird was a cockerel, it would probably be crowing by 13 weeks.

 

[aoxa]

Ok hopefully these are better? Thanks!

Definitely a girl! No worries there! Any day you will get an egg.

 

[npeasley6]

Thank you again everyone! She makes alot of sounds but no crowing, I have a Barred Rock and a Frizzle much younger than her and they are already crowing...So I will be looking for eggs!! So exciting!! Thanks!!

 

[Chris09]

OP's bird is a pullet, ready to lay her first egg any day now. No matter what kind of "red" she is, she doesn't have the hackle feathers or saddle feathers or tail feathers to be a rooster. Here's my production red boy. Notice the huge wattles, hackle feathers and saddle feathers. Your bird has none of these. Also, if the bird was a cockerel, it would probably be crowing by 13 weeks.

Wile I agree the OP's bird is a hen I will say that not all Rooster have Male Hackles, Saddle Feathers or a Male type Tail.
You may want to look up the Henny Feathering Gene (Hf).

CHICKEN Summary :

The typical feathering of hens is part of their secondary sexual characteristics, produced by the action of estrogen. Much of this estrogen is produced from androgen in the ovaries by the enzyme aromatase. In certain strains of two breeds of chicken, namely the Sebright Bantam and the Golden Campine, roosters have the same feathering as hens, rather than the typical male form of feathering. This disorder is called henny feathering. It results from a mutation in the aromatase gene, causing thr gene to be expressed in the skin of both sexes. In males, this leads to abnormally high levels of estrogen, which in turn produces henny feathering. Henny feathering is interesting because it illustrates that not all mutations result in loss of activity; some mutations can cause a gene to be switched on in cells in which it is normally inactive.

Clinical Summary :

Apart from the hen-like feathers, males with this trait have a substantially reduced reproductive ability, probably because the increased levels of plasma estrogen inhibit spermatogenesis
(George et al., 1990)

Inheritance :

The aromatase gene is autosomal incomplete dominant gene, but the form of inheritance of henny feathering is not what is normally seen with an autosomal mutation, because the phenotype associated with the mutation
(henny feathering in males) can be seen only in males. This is an example of a sex-limited trait. Furthermore, the normal expression of the gene is seen only in females. Thus the two alleles at the one locus give rise to the two possible forms of sex-limited inheritance. The henny-feathering mutation also illustrates how two alleles can present more than one form of inheritance, depending on which trait is being considered. With respect to aromatase activity, gene action is co-dominant, i.e. heterozygotes have an enzyme activity mid-way between that of the two homozygotes. In this case, however, the activity in the skin of the normal homozygote is zero. With respect to feathering, the mutant is dominant, because heterozygotes produce sufficient enzyme in the skin, and hence sufficient oestrogen, to cause henny feathering.

Molecular Genetics :

This disorder is the first insertion mutation documented in any domesticated species of animal. In this case, it appears that the terminal repeat sequence of a retrovirus has been inserted into the 5' promoter region of the aromatase gene (Matsumine et al., 1991). This terminal repeat has a promoter of its own, which causes the aromatase gene to be switched on in atypical places, such as the skin of both sexes, giving rise to the henny- feathering trait in males. The actual peptide produced by the mutant allele is exactly the same as that produced by the normal allele, as we would expect for such a mutation.

Mapping Summary :

The Hf locus is located on the long arm of chromosome 1.

Information above from Ultimate Fowl and angis org


Chris

 

[npeasley6]

How can you tell she is getting ready to lay an egg? Just curious trying to learn these things...lol

 

[aoxa]

How can you tell she is getting ready to lay an egg? Just curious trying to learn these things...lol

By her comb colour. They start to redden and get bigger a few weeks before they start laying. It almost seems like it is an overnight appearance.

How long have you had her?