Is this a cockerel?

[FeatherQueen3]

3 weeks old, largest chick in the brooder. Has developed red wattles and it looks like comb may be reddening also. Supposed to be all pullets.

 

[The Moonshiner]

If 3 weeks I'd bet cockerel

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Definitely a little dude

 

[WallyG74]

No, it’s okay. I just don’t prefer having roosters as I’ve never had a nice one. lol

Everyone has different experiences and opinions on this, but here goes mine. The roosters that were little pets as cockerels always seemed to turn bad as they matured. It’s like they suddenly felt too familiar and had to act stupid. The ones that I left alone and didn’t coddle have all been good roosters. They mind their business and stay away when anyone goes in the run/coop. Of course, there’s lots of people that can’t let it be that way. They feel like they can force their will on that bird and make a pet of it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Painted Calls]

Everyone has different experiences and opinions on this, but here goes mine. The roosters that were little pets as cockerels always seemed to turn bad as they matured. It’s like they suddenly felt too familiar and had to act stupid. The ones that I left alone and didn’t coddle have all been good roosters. They mind their business and stay away when anyone goes in the run/coop. Of course, there’s lots of people that can’t let it be that way. They feel like they can force their will on that bird and make a pet of it. Just my 2 cents.

This is my experience, too.

 

[Tookie]

Cockerel.

 

[Painted Calls]

Cockerel

 

[NatJ]

Forgot to add there were ISA browns in the box with him also. Maybe he’s an ISA roo? Not sure what they look like.

ISA Brown males look about like him at that age
As they grow up, they tend to get red patches in their shoulders, and some of the "white" feathers may look a bit yellowish.

Since ISA Browns are bred to be sexed by color at hatch, to use the hens for layers, no-one really cares what the adult males look like when they mature. So breeders have selected a set of color genes that work for sex-linkage, and the adult males end up with a color that is not found in any pure breed of chicken.

 

[FunClucks]

Could also be a starlight green egger roo. They have large single combs, and I know the females come in his color as chicks - they're not sex-linked, so there could possibly be males his color too. But yea, the pinkness of that comb says cockerel to me.

Was he a packing peanut?

If you end up keeping him, and want to know for sure if he has the blue egg gene (if he was a SGE he might), you can test his feathers or blood to see. I think the test is about $20, which is cheaper and less work than doing a test mating and raising a brood of chicks.

 

[3KillerBs]

Definite boy. What breed?