Can you spot a Rooster at 3 weeks??

[RM44]

I have 24 chicks in a long, extended "dog pen" style run in my upstairs bedroom, and one of the 24 has developed a habit of "charging" me when I open the gate. All the others run away, screaming at the top of their lungs, but one of my RIRs pecks at my hand and fingernails, and leaps up trying to spur me, and then jumps onto my hands any time I reach in to change the feeder or watering can. I think this must be a rooster, but maybe it's just a very ballsy hen? I ordered all pullets from the Hatchery, but they only guarantee a 90% accuracy rate, so I did expect to get a rooster or two. Anybody ever been able to spot a rooster this young, simply based on this type of behavior?

 

[RM44]

Oh, I should say that this little chick has not drawn blood, and the pecking doesn't hurt. In fact, I find it quite cute, and I take it out of the cage every time, and hand feed it crumbles. I'm going to get some mealie worms for him/her and when it comes to me I'm going to give it a treat to encourage it. (Is that a bad idea?)

 

[bubblebean11]

I had a RIR roo that was the same way. I would pick him up everyday and he eventually stopped doing it. He was a very sweet boy after that.

 

[onthespot]

To spot a rooster early, I look for the thickest beak, where it joins the face, and the biggest feet.

 

[Tala]

I've always known mine that early. I had two RIR's that I knew by a few days old. On them RIR's they were slower feathering, especially in the tail department, and soon they had noticeably thicker legs.

On my Buff Orps I spotted their combs first. On my Black sexlinks, well they were sex-links duh, but they also grew combs pretty quick so I would have known even if they weren't color coded for me. hehe

 

[Mahonri]

I have week old chicks (38 of them!) in a box in a dog crate. One charges me all the time.. it's a GC Marans and I'm pretty certain it's a roo.

 

[RM44]

Quote:
Interesting. This RIR is the only chick who doesn't yet have feathers on it's head. All the others are starting to get feathers. The chick does have a full tail though....

On our last batch, we finally figured out we had a rooster at about 5-6 months old, but looking back, he had thicker legs from the time he was about 3 months old.

 

[RM44]

Mahonri, I think I agree with you! The charger just has to be a roo; huh? So cute though. I'll farm him out to my BIL since he can have roosters and I can't. He's going to take 8 of them, so he might as well get a roo; huh?