I have a gorgeous girl I can't seem to figure out what breed she is! Help!

[jj384ev]

I am trying to determine the breed of my beautiful reddish brown chicken now that she's a little older. She has some black tips on some of her wings is that helps. Thanks for the assistance!

 

[BantamLover21]

Looks like a production red. And unless "she" is over 18-20 weeks of age, she is actually a rooster.

 

[Mac14]

Looks like a production red. And unless "she" is over 18-20 weeks of age, she is actually a rooster.

x2

 

[donrae]

Agree with the above, that's a young production/hatchery Red cockerel.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Production Red cockerel.

 

[jj384ev]

I'm not questioning your judgment here but how can you tell its a rooster? I'm looking at pics of other females at this age in both of those breeds and I see no differences. Her tail feathers are not changing color or getting longer, she's very mild tempered and her feathers are full not more stringy looking. So, it would greatly help me if you could help me understand what I should be looking for that I'm not seeing so I can check for it on my other chickens.

Thanks!

 

[donrae]

How old is the bird?

 

[jj384ev]

This bird and my barred rock who is the same size are both just about 3mo old right now. (Thats estimation as i bought them as supposed 1week old chicks). So, unless my barred rock is a rooster too, which I'm pretty positive it isn't, "she's" a pretty small rooster. The little bit of black tipping on the feathers is common from what I can tell in both breeds, there is no color change on the feathers right now and the tail feathers of both birds look very similar. She was a very light tan when she started, but has developed the reddish brown feathers in the last few weeks.

 

[donrae]

Sorry to say, but they're both roosters. The age is the key here. That's about as much comb as you'd expect on a mature, productive hen. 3 month old hens don't have hardly any comb, and what they do have is pale pink in color. Cockerels mature earlier than pullets, so they get the larger, redder combs first. Your birds are at the early end of the age to develop hackle and saddle feathers, so it's not unexpected you're not seeing them yet.

On your red bird, the darker shading on the wings is also a rooster sign. Hens are an even, smooth color and roosters get the showier coloring. Even on a basically solid colored bird the roosters get more shading and variation in color.

I'm sorry to say, your barred Rock isn't a pure bred Rock, either, if it has that much comb. Pure barred males are much lighter in color. From what I can see of the comb it's likely male, but feel free to post a pic of it.

Here's a recent thread showing the normal comb development on pullets of approximate age, you can easily see the difference....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/893205

 

[jj384ev]

I got a suggestion that she could be a New Hampshire Red. The more pictures I look at the more I agree. Many of the female pics I see have the black tipped feathers as well. I Also compare her to my neighbor's chicks and full grown girls that are the same age and the waddle is very similar. From what I've read, the coloring of the wattle on the NHR can be very brigh t red and can grow quickly even in hens because they are bred to be very large fast growing chickens. I will just keep watching behavior and coloring and see what turns out! I'm pretty positive my barred is a hen though. I've done so much research on the sexing of those and she looks just like the pullets of the Plymouth barred. Anyway, thanks all for the help. If anyone has more specific info they can provide on sexing a NHR I would appreciate the links to info!