Gender? Breed? Checking up...

[Bazoo1016]

I got what was *supposed* to be all pullets, and sex links/barred rocks. I am EXTREMELY new to this. And my husband has had chickens all his life. But they never really put forth the effort to care about them. And learn.

We have 4 black ones hopefully black sex links, and 2 barred rocks. After reading here I am assuming 1 of them is a cockerel.

They should all be around 5 weeks (if not a little older).

Here is the first sex link.





Here is the second, looks like to be growing some waddles?





Here is the barred rock I assuming to be a pullet.



Here is the one I am assuming is male. His comb is getting pinkish, and about double the size of the other one. And he is also bigger in size.



Here are both of them together.




What does everyone think?!

 

[RockerHen]

The black ones are definitely hens, because female sex links are black, while the males are barred. Were the the two barred ones labeled as barred rocks or were they with the sex links?

 

[Bazoo1016]

The kid that was in the store didn't seem all that knowledgeable. But they said they had barred rocks. So I am assuming those were just barred rocks not the male offspring. They are also MUCH bigger then the sex links. I am assuming they are sex links. Again he was not knowledgeable. I actually asked for all barred rocks.

 

[RedIII]

Well, assuming those two are indeed BR's, I'd say you have all girls, though that last chick could be a boy. My mom has a BSL pullet that was very masculine while growing up - big, long rooster legs and feet, boyish wattles, dominant attitude. She's definitely a girl, though. The best I can figure on that, personally, is that it comes from them being a crossbreed. Sometimes funny traits like that pop up.

Rocks are a bigger breed, in general. I have a couple of 8-wk-old chicks that are large, compared to most other breeds I've had at that age. Male BR's will have more obvious white in their striping; females have more black. If these chicks are at least 5 weeks old, I would expect any males' faces to have more pronounced pink in them than that. I could be wrong, but I still say you have all girls

 

[donrae]

Your black girls all do look like black sex links. The gold color will spread a little on the chest/neck area as they mature.

Your barred birds are probably barred pullets. They are not pure barred cockerels, but there is a chance they could be black sex link cockerels. But, even at this age, I'd expect them to have more comb. Post them again in 3-4 weeks and we'll have a better idea. Bsl boys are usually not shy at all!

 

[Bazoo1016]

Thank you! That's good to know I'm wrong. I'll leave this up to people who know more then I do!