Distinguishing male/female of RIR's

[ChickenWendy]

I have 8 Rhode Island Reds and I cant tell which is which. 1 is suppose to be a male and the rest female, but quite honestly there are no differences. They are 7 weeks old. I have one who doesnt have any rump feathers at all and is a bit darker and smaller then the rest but that is it. No larger combs or distinguishing waddles or crowing. My Buff Orpingtons i could tell right away.
I know i dont have pictures, but is there anyway to tell a big difference?

 

[speckledhen]

Check out the legs. Cockerels will have very thick legs compared to the pullets. That's one thing I look for besides the obvious ones.

 

[jeaucamom]

Our RIR that was a roo had the really small tail feathers long before the comb started getting bigger and waddles started developing. Our girls had the tail feathers and developed the wingbow feathers also. Hope that helps. Can you post pictures??

 

[Tuffoldhen]

RIRs you can tell by 4 weeks if their cockerals or pullets...cockeral will have the start of large red combs and wattles coming in, your pullets will have small combs or almost no comb and no sign of wattles yet....

 

[speckledhen]

These two RIRs are just about five weeks old in this pic, first the boy, then the girl:

 

[ScapeChicken]

Here's two RIR's at 6 weeks.

Roo

Pullet

 

[ChickenWendy]

i will try to post pictures but honestly they all look the same. i am beginning to think i have all girls - which is ok, but i really wanted a rooster too.
i will try to post pictures this weekend. i need to figure out how y'all get your pictures imbedded in your post rather then having to go to photobucket to look.
thank so much. i am addicted to this website now. it is my family's first foray into chickens - which i have wanted for a while and this website is awesome. i am realizing the more i look that i might want some silkies!!! and i definitely am going to try to get me some silikes, silver phoenixes & some Bard Rocks. Those Bard Rocks that i think Cynthia from Georgia posted are gorgeous and they look so sweet.

Thanks for all the help. Y'all are the best.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks! You can't go wrong with Barred Rocks! I even had a Silver Phoenix/Barred Rock cross! She is beautiful and lives with Kate (helmstead) who owns her parents, although I hatched her here. She looked just like a crow on a phone line as a chick so I named her Raven. Here she is more recently: