Hens or roosters?

[JMotuzick]

we are raising meat birds for the first time. 2 Friends and I split 50 freedom rangers and 25 hatchery choice 3 ways. The hatchery sent 51 rangers, 26 barred rock males. One of the other guys says he has 3 or 4 barred rock pulletts. I’m having a hard time being so new to chickens! I’m posting a few pictures from feeding time tonight. They are all 7 weeks old Wednesday. I’d like to save a few pulletts if there are any.... butchering in August 4th at 10 weeks plus a few days. I’ll get more pictures if you all want but it’s so hard! There are 9 BR and 18 freedom rangers in our tractor. All the FR will be going to the freezer only asking about the BR. Thanks!

 

[sylviethecochin]

I see nothing but cockerel BRs, and would think that your friend also has nothing but cockerels. I suspect that a few of his are just slow to develop.

The barring gene causes loss of pigment in stripes. It's also sexlinked, so female chickens can only carry one copy of the barring gene. Males can carry two copies. Because of the two copies, more pigment is removed and males are lighter in color than females are. By color alone, your BRs are all cockerels.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I’m going to say @sylviethecochin is correct!! So yeah, cockerels!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I see nothing but cockerel BRs, and would think that your friend also has nothing but cockerels. I suspect that a few of his are just slow to develop.

The barring gene causes loss of pigment in stripes. It's also sexlinked, so female chickens can only carry one copy of the barring gene. Males can carry two copies. Because of the two copies, more pigment is removed and males are lighter in color than females are. By color alone, your BRs are all cockerels.

X2
Other possibility in the friends "pullets" being black sex link males which initially look very similar to barred rock pullets due to only having one copy of the barring gene (if friend is using plumage as gender determination)

 

[JMotuzick]

Thank you all for the full Description of the Baird rocks. I was expecting just “they are all roosters” thank you for the education!