Is my RIR a Rooster or Hen?

[Cark]

Its about 3 months old

 

[flewdacoop]

its a rhode island red roo

 

[Cark]

Here is an updated photo of my chicken... still think its a rooster?

 

[aoxa]

Rooster - and not a RIR at all.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup. The photo is a little dark, but very cockerel leaning. Should begin to crow in a few weeks and that'd confirm it, I guess.

Cark, small time breeders and hatcheries all sell generic red birds as RIR, but the truth is, the body shape, feathering, light coloration and all the features show that it is production red, or barnyard red of some kind. Nothing wrong with that. It's a chicken. Healthy is important.

 

[Cark]

Thats for the insight.. I was really wondering and doubting it was a pure breed RIR because of the coloring coming through on it and its fairly light colored red. It even has a few white feathers its back, part of the wings I believe.

I have 3 other true RIR hens that it can mate with, which will produce pure RIR correct?

He does seem healthy and I think I may have even seen him trying to mate with the little hen/chick in the background of the photo above for the first time yesterday.

Should I expect a noisy rooster? I imagine some roosters/breeds are noisier than others?

 

[Swizzle]

With my chicks I noticed the only rooster had thicker leg bones than the girls. His legs looked longer and stronger and he carried himself differently than the other chicks. Sure enough, around 5 months he let out his first crow. THAT is what will tell you the truth. I went through just what you are doing now, asking everyone in the BYC community to help me figure out if I had a suprise rooster and the best advice I got was "hens don't crow." Sure, they can be noisy and have a big ol' egg song, but it is not a rooster crow. It's unmistakeable. You'll know it when you hear it!

My friends went thru this too. Two out of three of their supposedly-sexed chicks turned out to be roos and they had no idea until that first crow!