4-week-old barred rock -- girl or boy?

[FouPourPoulets]

OK, I'm throwing this out there to get past my fear of being told Sam is a boy! I have three 4-week-old chicks (first-time chicken keeper) -- all different breeds. I've got a Barred Rock, a Buff Orpington, and what was sold as an Ameraucana that I'm assuming is really an Easter Egger.

My understanding is that the BO is typically the largest of these three, and the EE the smallest. Well, Margy, the BO, is the smallest of the three so far, and Francis, the EE is in the middle. I'm pretty confident that those two are girls. After several hours of reading and looking at pics here on BYC, I've gotten my hopes up that Sam, the Barred Rock, is also a girl, but I'm asking for your input to put my doubts to rest.

I'll attempt to post several pictures for you to make your judgements on....








and for good measure, here's a not-so-great shot of Margy and Francis:



Thanks for your help! ~Garnet

 

[FouPourPoulets]

Well, it's been a while! Lucky me, I did end up with three pullets. They're about 16 weeks old now, and doing really well. Unfortunately, several weeks ago, one of my neighbor's chihuahuas escaped her yard, got into mine, sneaked under my poultry netting fence and attacked my Ameraucana/EE. After getting advice from my local feed store and reading a lot on the forum here, I tended to her regularly, kept her inside the house in one of my dog's crates, and within only a week, she was ready to be back outside with the other chickies. By about 2 weeks later, she was no longer limping. I'm amazed at how resilient chickens are, and how quickly they heal! Francis is even now vying for top-chicken status. I don't think Sam, the one I wasn't sure about the sex of, is going to give up the top position in the pecking order, but Francis is persistent!

Anyhoo... here are some recent pics. Sam is looking beautiful with her comb and wattles! I'd say at 16 weeks, the comb and wattles are not all that more developed as the 6-week-old cockerel's in Happy Chooks picture earlier in this thread.

Looking forward to the first eggs now. Tomorrow I'm building them a mobile shelter/playground! Will post pictures when it's finished.

Sam at 16 weeks


Sam at 16 weeks (close up)


My other 2 girls, Margy (left) and Francis (right)

 

[texas75563]

My vote is pullet. Coloring could be going either way, darkening or lightening up. Forget coloring. The small yellow looking comb, hard to tell where beak ends and comb starts. I vote pullet all the way.

 

[FouPourPoulets]

Agh... yes, I thought this was a tough one. At first, because Sam was noticeably getting bigger than the other two, with a more developed comb, I started thinking she was a he. But the more I looked at pictures and read about the differences here, I started getting more confidence that she is indeed a she.

Her (fingers-crossed) coloring seems lighter in the pictures than it does to me in real life. Not sure why that is. Also, I'm attaching another pic that shows the dark coloring on her legs. The comb is a tad pinkish, which has me questioning. All three are growing pretty fast, and Francis, the EE, already is getting to be about as big as Sam. Sam's legs aren't much thicker than Francis' at this point. Margy, the BO, on the other hand, is unquestionably smaller, and frankly she makes me worry that there's something wrong with her. But, she bustles about and is eating and drinking, so I'm trying not to worry.

All three came from a local feed store on the same day, and were all supposedly hatched the day before I got them. The feed store said there was a 10% chance of getting a male out of each of the 100 chicks of each breed they got in that day based on the uncertainty in determining sex.

So, here's another (partial) pic of Sam. After this, I guess it's wait and see! Thanks for all the replies so far!

 

[FouPourPoulets]

Hi All! Not sure if anyone will see this, but my chickies are 6 weeks old now, and I thought I'd throw up some new pics of Sam to see if anyone wants to add, confirm, or change their opinion about whether she's a pullet or a cockerel. Based on Happy Chooks 6wk pic, I'd say Sam is definitely a pullet. Still, her comb has more pink than my other two, and it looks like she's just starting to develop wattles, which I don't notice on the other two yet.

Anyhooo.... what do y'all think? Thanks!

 

[texas75563]

My original vote was pullet. New photo confirms she is a pullet.

 

[chick007]

hate to dissapoint you, but sam is a boy, i have twelve girls and they all had dark wash on front of legs at that age. sam is also more white than black, as your first picture shows stands really tall, and has giant legs.

 

[BlazeJester]

I can't see the legs well enough to say definitively one way or the other. The comb still looks acceptably small and yellowish as a pullet would have.

Where did you get the chicks? If that's a true barred rock it could be female - males usually are much slower to feather out and have well defined barring. However, if this is from a backyard breeder anything could be the case. I found a lady on craigslist who just put hatchery barred rocks in a yard together and sold the babies, and they were all over the map.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I think it's a pullet. Comb would be larger and turning pink by now if it were a cockerel. Also thin legs point to pullet.


Here are 2 cockerels at roughly the same age. Notice the wattles coming in on the one in the upper right.


By 6 weeks, it's more obvious.

 

[DirtCreature]

Looks like a pullet to me, this is a hard one though!