Barred Rock rooster or pullet?

[centralcaligirl]

This one is about nine weeks old. The second picture is the best I could get of the tail feathers. Thanks in advance!

 

[thecatumbrella]

At 9 weeks, that's definitely a male. The comb and wattles are massive for that age!

 

[centralcaligirl]

I was afraid of that. Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. Based on comb, wattles, and the heavy legs that is a boy. Sorry.

 

[centralcaligirl]

Thank you very much. It's better to know now!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It's the color that tells the tale.

Male on the left, pullets on the right. Males have a gene that causes them to have twice as much white due to "double barring," while females have an equal anount of black and white. This shows up very early, even in chicks. Typically, male chicks will have a large white spot on the head and females a small spot.

 

[centralcaligirl]

That is really good information, thank you. You're right, looking back at my pictures, my barred rock pullets in the past were much darker.

Two of my three "pullets" are now confirmed to be boys.

 

[AnneGirlGG]

Did you bit

That is really good information, thank you. You're right, looking back at my pictures, my barred rock pullets in the past were much darker.

Two of my three "pullets" are now confirmed to be boys.

Did you get them in a store, like at TSC? The dot on the head thing that @BigBlueHen53 said is definitely helpful to know when you're picking them out. There were some being sold as straight run in our local TSC and the girl who works there told us about it and even showed me the difference on the 2 sexes. I thought it was really nice of her to share that. I'm sorry your pullets, aren't!

 

[centralcaligirl]

I did get them from the local feed store, and I was careful to choose one from the female bin with a small dot on the head, too!

Here is a picture, the one on the top right is the barred rock that turned out to be a boy.

 

[AnneGirlGG]

I did get them from the local feed store, and I was careful to choose one from the female bin with a small dot on the head, too!

Here is a picture, the one on the top right is the barred rock that turned out to be a boy.

Eek! So maybe it's not always accurate.