How can I pick out the roo's in my RIR's?

[LSU2001]

I have 26 RIR chicks that are about 5 weeks old. How can I pick out the roos?
I have been reading that I need to separate the roos at about 6-8 weeks old but I can't tell which are which. Some of the chicks are growing red/pink combs but it seems that all of them have at least some comb. Any help or pics would be appreciated.
Tim

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

Why do you need to seperate?

Post some pictures of your youngsters and I am sure there will be some guessing going on. LOL.

 

[Master S.M.C]

The ones with larger more red combs are males. Female combs at that age are smaller and light pink.

 

[gkeesling]

I'm not sure why you would have to separate the roosters at this age. I have 7 RIR and 12 BR that are about 12 weeks old now. 2 of the RIR are roosters. They are all doing fine together. One of the roosters has established his dominance but there isn't any problem in the coop. They were about 8-10 weeks before I could tell, for sure, which ones were the roosters. I am going to cull the roosters at 15 or 16 weeks. They are going to end up in the freezer for a future Sunday dinner.

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Usually the roos will have round fuzzy butts and real short wing feathers at an early age while the pullets will develope tails and grow long wing feathers quickly. Works on most heavy breeds.

 

[tim_TX]

You can tell by the feathering. The boys will look a little ragged on their backs while the hens will look smooth. Thats in addition to their larger physical size, and larger redder combs. I agree with others though, there is no need to separate at such a young age. They will do just fine.
When you read about separating, the author is usually talking about putting them on a special diet to finish them off for the frying pan.