Barred Rocks gender help - 10 weeks

[CrazyChickGirl]

Hi everyone. Our barred rocks are about 10 weeks old now. We got them at a local feed store at the same time. They are huge chickens already! I assumed since I didn't see a large comb on any of them by now, they were all girls. But now I am unsure. Help?! None of them have the saddle or sickle feathers yet, but some combs are red, while others are yellow and some have more white in their feather pattern. This first picture is the group of them all together. Notice two are lighter and the one in back is darker:


This is chick 1. She is very mellow and easy going. She is darker in coloring and her comb is more yellow. She is also slightly smaller then the other two.



Chick 2. She has lighter coloring and has had a pink comb for a while now, but it's not much bigger then Chick 1's comb. She is also more aggressive and runs up to us/ acts bossy.



Chick 3 also has lighter coloring and a pink comb that is not very large. She has a personality more similar to chick 2 and doesn't like to be held. She seems to be second in command, after chick 2.



Looking at other people's roosters, I would assume if ours were roosters they would have larger red combs by about 8 weeks. Our combs don't seem to be as large... Whatcha think?!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

All pullets.

Male Barred Plymouth Rocks appear lighter in color due to the wider white bars. Dark wash on legs and dark feathering tells you it's female at a glance.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Ok. Two of them are lighter in color, but not a lot lighter. Maybe just a variation?

 

[SilverChickie]

I'm thinking they're all girls. (And those pictures are ADORABLE.)

 

[silvia32444]

Males would be a lot more white and yellow legs.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Chick #1 definitely pullet.

Chicks #2 and #3 probably pullets, but I would still wait it out...I've had slow maturing males (with mixed opinions as to male/female on BYC).

I'm leaning towards male with #2 as it is so much lighter, but its comb is not very large yet (and yes, usually roo's have larger redder by now, but not always) and it does have blacker legs...BUT.... Watch to see if shiny spiky hackles begin to appear, that happens before the saddles come in. I found taking a flashlight out and looking at night helped me see them...they'll be very flashy vs. the more diffuse shine of healthy hen feathers.

And, no, in my experience Barred Rocks are not a slam dunk...I've had exceptions to the rules (lighter coloration, black leg wash, etc.)...which are just guidelines and percentages. You'll know when the hackles/saddles/sickles appear whether or not the feather color matches perfectly.

Lady of McCamley

BTW....I love the photos too...great photo op.

 

[Fred's Hens]

…...And, no, in my experience Barred Rocks are not a slam dunk...I've had exceptions to the rules (lighter coloration, black leg wash, etc.)...which are just guidelines and percentages. You'll know when the hackles/saddles/sickles appear whether or not the feather color matches perfectly.

Agree. One reason it isn't always a slam dunk is that BYCers get their Barred Rocks from let's say the 10 major hatcheries and secondarily from those hatcheries through popular feed stores. Those 10 hatcheries are not breeding to the Standard. They produce inexpensive, available and healthy chicks, but the mass breeding that each hatchery employs means their birds are simply not going to be the same and they aren't. We see BRs here of all kinds of barring and feathering, all kinds of leg coloration and maturity rates. Under such circumstances, one cannot apply over generalized principles of sexing.

It won't be that much longer. At ten weeks of age, the OP is more than half way home. By 15 or 16 weeks, even a late blooming cockerel will show his stuff.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Thank you so much everyone! I will continue to keep an eye on them.