Is my chicken a male or female?

[RainbowHen]

Yeah I’m a new chicken owner

That's ok! Everyone starts somewhere. Some people forget that

 

[featherhead007]

Boy slim body

You saying girls are fat? Just asking

 

[NatJ]

You saying girls are fat? Just asking

Pullets and hens (females) sometimes look more round or fat than cockerels and roosters (males.) It's a body shape difference.

 

[featherhead007]

Pullets and hens (females) sometimes look more round or fat than cockerels and roosters (males.) It's a body shape difference.

OH OK, good cover!

 

[NatJ]

I thinks its a female, the comb isn’t pointed like a roo’s, and the thing under the chin is not long like a roo’s it is shorter like a hens. I’m no expert I’ve only looked up pictures of Roos and hens to see which that look like. Everyone thinks its a roo but I honestly think its a hen.

The comb is the red thing on top of the head. Whether it's pointy or not does not tell the gender of the chicken. Roosters usually have larger combs than hens, but some breeds have smaller or larger combs than others.

Dangly red things under the chin are called wattles. Yes, they are bigger on roosters than hens, but that also changes a bit from one breed to another. This cockerel will grow a bigger comb and bigger wattles as he gets older.

And the reason some of us are so sure it's male are those feathers that TheOddOneOut posted a photo to illustrate: long slender feathers with pointy ends that grow in front of the tail on a rooster, while hens get wider feathers with rounded ends. You just don't find those narrow, pointy feathers on a Barred Rock female.

The saddle feathers are a little hard to see in the photo, but they have a little different barring pattern on them that makes them sort-of show up. I can see them if I zoom in, and several other folks are obviously seeing them too.

 

[DandyAndMahi]

Awesome, you guys are the best! Do you know how old he is?

 

[chrissynemetz]

He's definitely a handsome cockerel. How many other roosters and hens do you have?

 

[DandyAndMahi]

He's definitely a handsome cockerel. How many other roosters and hens do you have?

We have one adult female, Henrietta, who has five orphan teenager baby chickens that she’s taking care of. They’re all free range in our yard and sleep in the coop at night.

We also have a baby chick who we have in his heat lamp enclosure inside and his name is Easter!

We got all of our chickens from a friend who didn’t want them haha

 

[The Happster]

He does not look very old.
Possibly 5 months.

 

[Aapomp831]

Darn!! No matter what, he’s still beautiful and I love him all the same! I thought he was a female because he’s never crowed like the rest of our roosters have, and he’s super timid like our females.

Will he crow (or whatever it’s called) like a rooster does?

Yes, all roosters crow.