Is my barred rock hen a rooster

[Mattsiewrt94]

It won't let me put up a picture but it's bigger than my golden commet hens it also has red speckles down its leg idk please help me out as much As you can got it as a chick and they didn't know the sex and can chickens break there tail?

 

[Wyandottes7]

I think you need to have ten posts before you can post a picture, so that may be why you are unable to. Its difficult to tell gender without a picture. Roosters are often larger than hens, so if your bird is larger, thats a sign that it could be a rooster. The red spots on the leg are normal (many birds have them)-- they don't help with telling the gender. Signs of a rooster include larger, redder comb and wattles (are its wattles and comb larger than your hens' wattles and combs?), pointy neck feathers and saddle feathers (the neck feathers of a female chicken will be rounded, and those of a male are generally longer and pointed. Saddle feathers are longer, pointy feathers near the tail-- hens don't get them, but roosters do), thicker legs (are its legs any thicker than your hens?), and sickle feathers in the tail (long curved feathers in the tail-- these only develop once a rooster is about 5 months old). If your bird has several of these signs, you likely have a rooster.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Pictures would really help. If you aren't able to get pics up, look for long, shiny neck (hackles) and back (sickles) feathers. How old is the suspected rooster? Is he/she older than your golden comet hens?

And as for breaking their tail..wow, that would be odd. Chickens have around 20 vertebrae in their spine, their tail is just a little knub at the end with feathers growing out of it. Thus, the tail which would be an awkward break. Do you suspect a tail break?

 

[Mattsiewrt94]

Oh okay thank you and the thing is I don't have any barred rock hens I have a mixed flock it doesn't have curved feathers on his tail but he's still growing but his wordless or whatever there called aren't huge but are bigger than the other hens there starting to flab more if that makes sense and his feathers are more stringy or pointed on the neck

 

[Mattsiewrt94]

I think so the dog got a hold of it when it was a chick it was just a little chihuahua but now since it has gotten the feathers on the tail they seem cricked

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Does he look more like pic 1 or pic 2?

 

[Mattsiewrt94]

J

 

[WooingWyandotte]

I think so the dog got a hold of it when it was a chick it was just a little chihuahua but now since it has gotten the feathers on the tail they seem cricked

 

[Mattsiewrt94]

The feathers on the tail are not finish growing and his feathers are only pointy on his neck my golden comets are almost a year old my barred rock is way younger than them I got him when he first got off the light and that was 4 months ago I believe

 

[WooingWyandotte]

The feathers on the tail are not finish growing and his feathers are only pointy on his neck my golden comets are almost a year old my barred rock is way younger than them I got him when he first got off the light and that was 4 months ago I believe