Help ID this one, please! I think I may have a male chick...

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
If this was a Barred Rock I would have definitely said boy myself....based on several things. However, if is IS a Leghorn, and even though I had no clue there were Barred Leghorns, I would say definite girl, based on what I know about the other colors of Leghorns.

I am just glad to know there are Barred Leghorns....pretty cool info, actually.

 

[mikarod]

Sorry...I think Barred Leghorns are ugly as sin...

Even at this age though..the comb shouldn't be THAT large. My Leghorn pullets didn't start getting their combs until at least 4 months of age.

 

[jossanne]

I was just looking through pictures of my brown and white leghorns, and their combs weren't that big until about 8 weeks. So I'd guess you're right, it's a cockerel. He's cute!

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I had a pair of white leghorns who, when they were little had very different combs. One girl had one easily that large that young. I threw a fit, accused her of being a roo....didn't even believe her when she started laying eggs.

It took me a LONG time to accept that I didn't have one hen laying two eggs a day and a rooster (and at that time they were the only white egg layers).

I still think this could be a girl.....and I think they look pretty but I am a HUGE Leghorn fan anyway.

 

[PotterWatch]

I had no idea there was such a thing as a barred leghorn!!! My barred girl who recently started laying white eggs was a mystery to me. She has always had a large comb that is now flopped over some to one side. Her earlobes were flesh-colored until about a week after she started laying and now they are definitely white... perhaps she is a barred leghorn!

 

[ZooMummzy]

I would have to guess a roo. The only two chicks I had with large combs like that at 4 weeks turned out to be roos.

 

[mom4morecritters]

Here are a couple photos of my White Leghorn Pullet and Roo when they were 6 weeks old. I had a total of 8 chicks. I didn't really take any photos of the chickens until I started to panic when I noticed that one of my pullets had a more pronounced comb and waddles than the other seven! As you can see, there is definitely a difference between the pullet and the cockerel!

I'm sorry, but this is the only photo I have of my pullet because I lost her, and four other girls, to a weasel when they were around 10 weeks old.

These photos were taken the same day.

So, my inexperienced opinion is that you have a pullet! Remember... I did say "inexperienced" because I've only been raising chickens for a little more than 6 months!

At first I was upset that I ended up with a cockerel, but now I am very happy to have Prince Roo around to watch over his flock. (I now have 34 chickens in total!)

Good luck!

~Anne

(edited to fix photo links)

 

[carousel]

I have several barred leghorns they are 4 weeks and they look just like your chick. Mine were also purchased as sexed pullets, if you want I can do a picture after work. it is dark now and I need to get ready for work!

 

[ellevin11]

This is great to know! Thanks for everyone's responses, especially carousel and moms4morecritters -- I think I may have a girl after all! I live in a city and can't have a rooster, and it would be too bad to have to give this one away!

 

[farmergal]

I agree with mom4morecritters. If your bird is a leghorn -- and matures at a similar rate to other leghorns, which would make sense -- you'd know if you had a roo by 4 weeks. My little roo (who was supposed to be a girl) had a big, floppy red comb by 3-4 weeks. Like, so big he looked ridiculous and couldn't fit into the feeder holes to eat! The girls all had big-ish combs... but pale and not floppy, just like your barred leghorn's. (Note: the girls matured at different rates, so some were bigger than others... but the roo was really, really obvious. This is just in my experience, I have 1 WL who's 2 months and 5 who are 5.5 weeks now.)

As for the jumping on others, they all seem to have different personalities... some of my leghorns are really skittish and some are more aggressive.