DOUBTING the sex of my "Hens" now.... help!?

[kale]

I'm new to raising chickens and I was told that I was given two egg laying hens but I keep seeing pictures and I'm starting to doubt....
Are they male or female?

Barred Rock & Australorp

 

[speckledhen]

Two cockerels, sorry. You won't be getting any eggs from either one of those.

 

[kale]

Thank you for clearing that up...

 

[kale]

Just wondering, can you explain to me how you can tell? (I'm new to this)

 

[theoldchick]

How old are these birds?

 

[kale]

Around 11/12 weeks.

 

[speckledhen]

You asked how I know:

The Barred Rock is a cockerel color, much lighter than a pullet would be, which is the way barred varieties are, plus his legs are almost clean yellow. Pullets have some dark wash down the leg fronts most all the time. At that young age, pullets of that breed do not have huge red combs like that, either. Barred Rocks are my favorite of all so I've hatched and grown out literally hundreds of them.


The black one, probably an Australorp, has a pointy, shiny fringe of saddle feathers on the back, hanging over the side, just in front of the tail, as only males do.


Below are two of my BR hens when they were 12 weeks old--you see how dark they are and how small the combs are, not to mention, the leg color?

 

[kale]

When my BR was younger, the legs were a lot darker (and I had read that online, so I just continued to think it)

But if they are both cockerels, are they going to start fighting when they get older? Because I've never have a problem with them before, they are very loyal to each other, almost inseparable. They are kind and sweet to me, and other animals and everything. When are they going to start crowing? I haven't heard them make much noise at all.....

 

[speckledhen]

They may not fight, especially if there are no hens to fight over.

And crowing can happen at any time. I've had chicks crow as young as four DAYS old or as late as 25 weeks old, but they may even wait longer than that. Most of my BRs are crowing before the age of 14 weeks.

 

[Warrprincess688]

I agree both are boys