Do both genders chest bump/spar?

kaylee gee

Songster
9 Years
Jul 5, 2012
186
67
181
Connecticut
My 7 RIR chicks are about 3-4 weeks old (I think) and they are a very lively bunch! They run at each other, stand up very tall, get chest-to-chest and stare for a second then back off again. They fly around the pen they are in too.

What I want to know is, do only cockerels spar like that? Or do pullets too? There is one chick i am almost positive is a roo (he is bigger than the rest, has darker coloring on his head/neck, and just seems all-around masculine. What about the others? Do I have a pen full of roos??

[EDIT]
Thanks for the answers y'all! I am going to put up a pic of each of their heads so y'all can see the combs. Can you tell this young by looking at their combs what their gender is?? Also, do the feathers over their ears show you anything? I notice they are either light or dark red. The lighting is not very good, as i had to hold them up to a window curtain to get my camera to focus on them and not the background, and i didnt want to use the flash on their little eyes.

Chick 1


Chick 2


Chick 3


Chick 4 (You can see why i think this one is a roo!)


Chick 5


Chick 6


Chick 7
 
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PrairieChickens

Songster
7 Years
Jun 29, 2012
1,682
362
221
Kansas
Oh, no... little girls will do it too! I have some really great photos and video of all of my young, gangly chicks challenging each other, and only two of them were boys. One little chick challenged a full grown hen when she was just a peep! The look on the hen's face was priceless as this little chipmunk-striped chick ran up to her, chest-bumped her (best a tiny chick can on a grown hen), then did the dance trying to intimidate her. Big Red just walked away like "Yeah, ok... I'll leave you to that."
 

Crafty-Duck

Songster
7 Years
May 27, 2012
1,178
60
148
Lucky Duck Pond
Oh ya! girls do it too!!! When I first got chickens it worried me a little that I may have roosters
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kaylee gee

Songster
9 Years
Jul 5, 2012
186
67
181
Connecticut
Oh, no... little girls will do it too! I have some really great photos and video of all of my young, gangly chicks challenging each other, and only two of them were boys. One little chick challenged a full grown hen when she was just a peep! The look on the hen's face was priceless as this little chipmunk-striped chick ran up to her, chest-bumped her (best a tiny chick can on a grown hen), then did the dance trying to intimidate her. Big Red just walked away like "Yeah, ok... I'll leave you to that."

lol that is so funny! i can imagine these doing that to my hens! haha!
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kaylee gee

Songster
9 Years
Jul 5, 2012
186
67
181
Connecticut
4 and 7 look like they will be cockerels. 5 maybe

okay! i think so too, so hopefully we will only have to rehome/eat 2 roos lol
we are getting 5 more chicks tomorrow or so, that were hatched in the same batch as these guys, so ill add their pics once i have them.
 

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