Barred rock roo??

[Julieh424]

I have moved this post from another area, sorry!! Anywho. I have a small flock of 7 mischievous birds. (They have found my broccoli ). They are all 5 weeks old tomorrow. I'm pretty confident that all the birds are hens except for one of my BRs. I tried to get a good picture of the 4 of them near each other. Can any of you well experienced people tell me if you think he is actually a she?? I have a few reasons why I think this, I want to see if anyone else will pick up on the same things. Thank you in advanced!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

That's a barred rock cockerel.

 

[Julieh424]

I'm going to add 2 more pictures. Just for comparison. The 1st one also has more white then the other 2 BRs, but not as much as the first chick I posted pictures of. The second photo shows how much darker my other 2 are.

 

[Julieh424]

That's a barred rock cockerel.

That's what I was afraid of!!! We cant have cockerals.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I'm going to add 2 more pictures. Just for comparison. The 1st one also has more white then the other 2 BRs, but not as much as the first chick I posted pictures of. The second photo shows how much darker my other 2 are.

I'm sorry to say they're both cockerels.

BR males are lighter than the females because they carry two copies of the barring gene.

 

[Julieh424]

Oh no . ...but the other 2 in the last picture look like pullets to you? The one in the forefront and the one behind?

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Here's my BR when she was a pullet at 8 weeks sitting with her speckled Sussex sister.

 

[Julieh424]

Hmmm..I'm a new chick mom, so to me they look similar. Haha! What specifically should I look for other than feather color?

Thank you for all your help too!!

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

In your last photo showing 4 chicks, the buff looks female and the one to the far right. The two in the middle look male.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

well, as they get older (for all your chicks) males will get red combs and wattles, that grow bigger than the orange colored small combs of the females. At around 12 weeks, they start growing male and female specific feathers.