Gender of barred rock chick!!!!

[ShrekDawg]

I'm going with pullet..... but until they feather out and mature more, it's just a gut feeling vs definitive clue.

Yeah, I’ve gotten quite good at pinpointing cockerels early on, sometimes from day one, now but without being there with them it can be hard to tell. Sometimes they just have a certain attitude or air about them but sometimes pulleys can be feisty too so it’s not always a sure thing but I’ve hatched enough now to where I can usually guess pretty early haha some have kept me on my toes

 

[NatJ]

You can only wing sex specific birds.

True, but you can often see the barring better on a spread-out wing. And sometimes the barring looks different on a male Barred Rock than on a female.

Way too young to tell, sorry. They need to be at least 8 weeks old usually but sometimes they start showing around 4. Post again in a few weeks and we might have a better guess. You will need to post pics of the comb/face though NOT the legs or wings.

But Barred Rocks' gender can sometimes be identified (or at least guessed) from down color, amount of white barring, and leg color.

In this case, I'm guessing male, based on the barring in the feathers and the color of the legs (I've always had trouble telling by headspots), but I'm not positive.

I suggest posting new pictures in a few weeks, when a male is likely to have a bigger & redder comb than a female. And if it's not clear then, try more pictures when it's about 3 months old--most birds become clear by then, although a few confusing ones keep us all guessing for 6-8 months.

 

[ShrekDawg]

True, but you can often see the barring better on a spread-out wing. And sometimes the barring looks different on a male Barred Rock than on a female.



But Barred Rocks' gender can sometimes be identified (or at least guessed) from down color, amount of white barring, and leg color.

In this case, I'm guessing male, based on the barring in the feathers and the color of the legs (I've always had trouble telling by headspots), but I'm not positive.

I suggest posting new pictures in a few weeks, when a male is likely to have a bigger & redder comb than a female. And if it's not clear then, try more pictures when it's about 3 months old--most birds become clear by then, although a few confusing ones keep us all guessing for 6-8 months.

Oh wow I didn’t realize that! I’ve had a few different Barred Rocks but I never really noticed that so much. I know usually the males tend to have more white on them but I didn’t think that showed up till later? I might have to back through my chick pictures and compare the differences between the cockerel I had and the pullet hahah I identified the cockerel mostly just by his sheer size as well as the giant red comb at like 3-4 weeks so I never really paid attention to that other stuff because I already knew he was a cockerel.

 

[NatJ]

I know usually the males tend to have more white on them but I didn’t think that showed up till later?

The barring gene is on the sex chromosome (Z), so males get two copies and females get only one copy (they have backwards sex chromosomes: males ZZ, females ZW).

Because the males have two copies of the barring gene, they tend to have a bigger yellow spot on the head, more white in the feathers, and lighter colored legs. Sometimes the differences are really obvious, and sometimes they are just confusing I've read that some lines of Barred Rocks have been specifically bred to have the differences be more obvious (autosexing), but breeders who just select for egg or meat traits end up with more of the confusing in-the-middle chicks.

 

[ColtHandorf]

If you had other Barred Rocks with it, it can be easier to sex. Judging by how "bright" the barring is I'm going to say male. So cockerel. It's much to young to tell by looking at the comb. But in Barred Rocks, males get two copies of the barring gene which makes the contrast between black and white much crisper, cleaner, and brighter. Females only inherit one barring gene and are therefore less defined. They are still black and white, but there's a fuzziness to the color pattern. Females also generally have a grey wash down the front of their legs. Cockerels do not.

 

[ShrekDawg]

The barring gene is on the sex chromosome (Z), so males get two copies and females get only one copy (they have backwards sex chromosomes: males ZZ, females ZW).

Because the males have two copies of the barring gene, they tend to have a bigger yellow spot on the head, more white in the feathers, and lighter colored legs. Sometimes the differences are really obvious, and sometimes they are just confusing I've read that some lines of Barred Rocks have been specifically bred to have the differences be more obvious (autosexing), but breeders who just select for egg or meat traits end up with more of the confusing in-the-middle chicks.

Thanks! This is really interesting and informative! I wonder why there hasn’t been more of an effort to make them autosexing? It seems like they’re already quite close and would make more money I would think? Especially with how popular the breed is. It seems in this case it might be possible to tell but I mostly just didn’t want them to get confused or think it was applicable to all breeds or whatever.

 

[NatJ]

I wonder why there hasn’t been more of an effort to make them autosexing? It seems like they’re already quite close and would make more money I would think?

Hatcheries in the US mostly do vent-sexing, and they make money by selling chicks--so making it easier for customers to breed their own doesn't help the hatchery.

Some private breeders do select for autosexing.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hatcheries in the US mostly do vent-sexing, and they make money by selling chicks--so making it easier for customers to breed their own doesn't help the hatchery.

Some private breeders do select for autosexing.

Ah okay that makes sense! Although some of them do sell other autosexing breeds? So it’s odd to me hahah I didn’t realize there were breeders doing it though. That’s interesting. Also sorry, appears I was wrong in this case

 

[NCBonnie]

Does anybody know the gender of my chick?

I'm going 100% too early to tell. Trust me, I did this same thing with the batch of 10 mixed chicks I received 7 weeks ago. Even now, I'm still scratching my head over a couple of these "ladies?"

 

[rachallyy]

Based on yellow legs I would say cockerel. If a pullet there would be some black down the front of the leg