Could “she” be a “he”?

[oncebefore]

Hi, I’ve been reading this site and noticed this is The most informative site regarding raising backyard chickens.

I recently became doubtful about one of my pullets. It’s a barred rock. I got both her and a buff Orpington at a local downtown backyard store as 3 day old chicks. Hatched on 4/1. So they’re around 19 weeks now. Neither laying yet.

The barred rock developed comb very early on and the comb now is huge and bright red! See pictures. Size wise she is almost the biggest among the five(the others are an old 9 yo RR, 6 months old ISA and an Australop both being laying since 17 and 19 weeks). Through online reading seems like Buff Orpington is a slow maturing breed so her comb is very small (see picture) and I don’t worry about it. It’s this barred rock I’m quite curious about. She doesn’t crow but does tend to make strange nosies and easily agitated.

Could she be somehow in between and infertile, or worse a rooster?

 

[FamilyOfSeven]

The barred rock is a male, and the buff is a female

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

That looks like a rooster to me.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

But the Buff Orpington 100% a girl. Buff orpingtons are my favorite breed! She is beautiful.

 

[Bananabread]

Frank seems like a good name!

 

[Chicken boy 1156]

Barred rock is a rooster but you do have a buff Orpington hen

 

[oncebefore]

Oh no! I was hoping the barred rock is a pullet as the store says they only sell female baby chicks. Though I knew there’s always this chance that a said female baby chick could be a male. When I took it home I even googled online to see the difference between a newly hatched barred rock male vs female. Back then it fit the description of a female. Now I’m not sure anymore. When does a barred rock rooster start crowing? I haven’t heard it crow yet. It’s 19 weeks old.

 

[oncebefore]

And everyone here is so helpful..

 

[Blue Raptor]

Hi, I’ve been reading this site and noticed this is The most informative site regarding raising backyard chickens.

I recently became doubtful about one of my pullets. It’s a barred rock. I got both her and a buff Orpington at a local downtown backyard store as 3 day old chicks. Hatched on 4/1. So they’re around 19 weeks now. Neither laying yet.

The barred rock developed comb very early on and the comb now is huge and bright red! See pictures. Size wise she is almost the biggest among the five(the others are an old 9 yo RR, 6 months old ISA and an Australop both being laying since 17 and 19 weeks). Through online reading seems like Buff Orpington is a slow maturing breed so her comb is very small (see picture) and I don’t worry about it. It’s this barred rock I’m quite curious about. She doesn’t crow but does tend to make strange nosies and easily agitated.

Could she be somehow in between and infertile, or worse a rooster?

Welcome into BYC! The BR is definitely a roo, and the BO is a hen!

 

[oncebefore]

and one more question, if the BR is a rooster, when will it start to show some dominance over the hens? Right now it’s still pretty low in the ranks, just a tad bit above the buff Orpington.