Baby Barred Rock.. hen or rooster??

[kimsgirls_17]

Hello!
We just got our first babies! We got them from a local feed store - supposedly 100% guaranteed pullets... one of them matches a hens description to a tee - the other one, not so much. She could just be an odd ball, and I know we won’t know for sure until they’re older, but we just wanted to post and see what everyone else thinks! So.. hen or rooster?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's always best to wait until 6-8 weeks. Sometimes the head spot and leg wash is correct and sometimes it's not. I would say pullet by those criteria, but I would wait a few weeks to see how it goes.

 

[kimsgirls_17]

Thanks for the reply! That’s what we’re hoping. We will keep our fingers crossed

 

[UncleDougsChickens]

you could try to vent sex it or check the wing feather length. Im raising 4 barred rocks now and they're really beautiful birds, you'll love them.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

you could try to vent sex it or check the wing feather length. Im raising 4 barred rocks now and they're really beautiful birds, you'll love them.

The former is only 85-90% reliable done by experienced sexers with significant risk of unintentional harm in the hands of inexperienced people.....the latter is not applicable to this breed

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Barred are able to be sexed earlier than the standard "6+ weeks" due to the science of barring genetics....2-3 weeks its generally very clear who has one copy of the barring gene (pullets) and who has two (cockerels)

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Keep in mind many of the "tricks" about sexing br at hatch (head spot, leg wash, etc) are great in lines bred for them, but the quantity over quality breeding of hatchety stock the waters are muddied