4 Week Barred Rock - Gender Guesses

[Leeloo7]

Hello! I have a wonderful four week old BR who has become the lead hen of our little flock. She’s definitely fiesty and tries to keep the chicks in line but she’s also incredibly sweet to us humans.
As she’s growing, I am noticing that her comb is a bit pronounced and pink already as compared to her other flock mates. She’s my only BR so it could just be that their combs develop differently than my other breeds (Orpington and olive egger) but the color is hard to deny. Any thoughts at this age? I know I’ll need to wait a few more weeks to know for sure but I’d love to learn what other traits to look for with figuring out the gender to this breed. Thank you!

 

[Rietta]

Im going to say a roo… age and comb color.

 

[Leeloo7]

Thank you for the feedback. The comb definitely has me a little worried, and I’ve heard the lighter coloring can be a give away too! But I’ve also read that darker legs can be a sign of a pullet with BRs and she’s definitely has darker legs. Here’s a few photos I took today. Is there any chance she could still be a pullet? I’m starting to lose hope, haha!

 

[Rietta]

I am still leaning toward a boy, I have also heard that tail feathers develop slower on roosters. I had a one I was so sure was a girl until it crowed sometimes its hard to tell. I have 2 year old barred rock hens and we got 2 cockerels with them as chicks, they are lighter than the pullets. Maybe he will be a great rooster for you if you can have him where you are! Still hoping I am wrong.....

 

[Leeloo7]

I hear ya! She’s my second suspected roo from a group of four pullets I recently got so I may just have some bad luck! I’m just going to continue watching her growth and cross my fingers she’s a hen!

 

[Leeloo7]

Today I took a couple photos of my BR and noticed that, even though it’s still really pink, her comb hasn’t gotten much bigger this week and as her adult feathers come in, she seems a little darker. I know I could be grasping at straws but I am feeling more on the fence now with her being a roo. Any thoughts? She’s about 4.5 weeks old now. I’ll also make sure to update this thread on what her gender ends to being!

 

[nszrmch]

My BR hen looked just like that around that age, so I'm thinking girl!

 

[Leeloo7]

So I figured I’d keep y’all updated as my BR develops and I feel like I’m still on the fence (but maybe that’s just my denial!). I looked back at pics when my BR was younger, and it’s hard to tell with the dot on her head what she could really be. It’s large but seems well-defined and symmetrical. Here’s some pics of her at around 1-2 weeks and some pics I took this morning. If she’s a roo, I may look into seeing if I can keep her and what I’d be getting myself into with a roo in the flock! We have a lot of predators out where we live though so it may be worthwhile to have one to help protect the flock. Any thoughts after seeing her baby pics??

 

[Leeloo7]

So now that my BR is 8 weeks old, I do think I have a pullet on my hands! What do y’all think?!

Although still pretty red, her comb hasn’t really changed much and she seems to have grown into it more. I also noticed with her molting that the white bands on her feathers are about half the size as the black bands. I’ll let y’all know whether she lays and egg or crows but I feel a lot better now versus a month ago when I first posted.