Hen or Roo EE? 12 weeks old.

[Pureupto99per]

(S)He's a bit bigger than the other EE's... definitely the leader of the flock. I bought her at a feed store and they said that all their chicks are sexed as female from the hatchery but "they make no guarantees". What do you guys think? When do males start crowing? I hope for (her)his sake (s)he's a female... we're not allowed to have roos... Funny thing, my fiance named this one "Dinner". Hopefully these pics are ok.

 

[txmel]

well i'm new at this but my guess is a roo.
my hubby calls all of our chickens "dinner", too.

 

[LeBlackbird]

That's a boy, sorry

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Dinner is a Roo.

 

[Pureupto99per]

uhhh-OOOOHHHH..... thats what I was afraid of, how do you know? When do they start crowing?

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Look at Dinner's saddle feathers. Saddle feathers are the ones in front of the tail. On Roos - their saddle feathers are pointy and as they age, the feather gets finer so that it almost looks like hair to me. Pullets and hens have rounded saddle feathers, and the saddle feathers tend to be fatter.


This picture was taken 11/01/09, chick is approx. 9 weeks old. Chick is an BR/EE cross - at this stage I was still hoping for a pullet:

This is the same chick picture taken 1/07/10 - yesterday at 18 weeks, but his roo feathering is coming in -- look at the long feathers in front of his tail. They have grown long enough now to cover the tips of his flight feathers on his wings.

Sometimes EE can be difficult because the coloring can make the feather look pointy - if that is the case, I pick the feather in my fingers to look at the end.

 

[Ariel301]

Yeah, it's a rooster.

 

[Pidgey104]

roo see the long tail feathers.

 

[newchickmom09]

I'm going to agree, roo. At least the name fits.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Looking at the hackle feathers and the tail feathers, most assured, Dinner is an up and coming Cock a Doodle RRRRRRROOOOO!