Barred Rock Pullet or Roo

[edriskell]

She/he is about 14 weeks old









She/he has started crowing and I have read that happens sometimes when no roos are in the flock.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well, you see, if 'she' begins crowing, she also will develop testicles and begin breeding her fellow sisters. It's also very rare
Roo, for sure

 

[edriskell]

Great and thanks for the insight I was not sure how chickens were made.

 

[Fred's Hens]

He's always been a cockerel, of course. They show themselves at 5 weeks. The pullets appear darker as they have but one barring gene. The cockerels appear brighter because they have two barring genes. They show themselves when they first feather in. At 5 weeks, the cockerels sprout red wattles and red comb, while the pullets do not. Pullets don't sprout their smaller version of comb and wattles until sexual maturity.

Thus, your fella likely gave himself away a long, long time ago. Here's some photos of my own chicks over the past few years. It is very obvious once your insight is informed and your eye is trained to see it.



A little trio of one cockerel with his two pullet chicks in tow.



Here they are two weeks earlier. The cockerel is already standing over them even before they've completely feathered in, the male is distinguishable and his tiny comb is already pink. One also becomes familiar with shape of the head. The cockerel's heads are block shaped. Notice those bright, white, wide Sergeant stripes on his wings. They stand out.




Here a pair from last summer at 9 weeks. Really obvious and a cute little couple. Look how "dark" she looks and how yellow her comb still is.

Here's the little cockerel shown above at 13 months.