How do you tell the rooster's from the hens?

[greenhead]

we have two bantam chicks from a straight run. they are golden and silver sebrights. they are 6 weeks old and both of them seem to be trying to crow already? is there any way to tell if they are for sure roo's? we cannot keep them if they are, so my little girl is dying to know what they are? please help.

 

[Mahonri]

If they are crowing, they are roos.

And BTW...

 

[Judy]

Not familiar with sebrights, but I'm afraid crowing/eggs is the bottom line for most breeds, except barred rocks and sex links.

Earlier signs in some breeds: redder combs, redder wattles, thicker legs. Or the presence of wattles in some cases. But there is so much individual variation. It's a guessing game, in the end.


A couple of websites that might help:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html