Breed and sex these please?

[ecjones73]

Hello! I've posted my chickies here yesterday to try and sex them, and I've been told they are actually not even barred Plymouth rocks! I'm new to owning chickens, so everything is foreign to me. I want to know what these guys are breed wise and gender wise. I've been told they are all cockerels. I'm just looking for more opinions so I've taken up to date pictures. Here they are at 6 weeks (i think they're kinda big for 6 weeks but they hatched on June 13th!)

 

[sourland]

I'[m not certain what they are, but I agree that they are not barred rocks. Also, sadly, all three are cockerels.

 

[ecjones73]

I'[m not certain what they are, but I agree that they are not barred rocks.  Also, sadly, all three are cockerels.

Just curious, how do you determine that?

 

[sourland]

It would be highly unusual for pullets to have that much comb development at 8/9 weeks. The next indicator will be the development of pointed hackle (neck) and saddle (back) feathers.

 

[junebuggena]

There is also the fact that even though they all have 'dark', pullet barring, all are clearly male. A 'pure' Barred Rock male would be much lighter, with wider white bars, and narrow black bars.

 

[ecjones73]

Well I guess I will wait to see for certain if they are truly cockerels. Thank you for your responses!

 

[GOLDENSEABRIGHT]

It is possible that they are a mix between dominiques and barred rocks because I had this mix and the rooster turned out similar to these, just not as dark.

 

[junebuggena]

It is possible that they are a mix between dominiques and barred rocks because I had this mix and the rooster turned out similar to these, just not as dark.

That would produce a bird that is still 'pure' for the barring gene. Males would be 'light', females would be 'dark'.

 

[sourland]

It is possible that they are a mix between dominiques and barred rocks because I had this mix and the rooster turned out similar to these, just not as dark.

Wouldn't a rooster from that mating have had a rose comb?

 

[GOLDENSEABRIGHT]

But the barring gene varies from species, it is true that the males tend to be white, but we don't know how exactly the genes pair up between two species.