Light Brahma - Pullet or Roo?

[JBirdy]

Hello,

A couple of days ago, we purchased pullets for our backyard chicken coop. They were sold as sexed pullets. They're all pretty mellow but I'm noticing that the Light Brahma is showing some strange behaviours. "She" likes to spook the other chicks and jump at them. I'm so worried that "she" is a "he". I'm just wondering what behaviours are normal (if any?) and what your guesses might be based on the pictures? We already went through some heartbreak with our last round of chicks, so I thought I would be doing myself a favour buying older, sexed pullets. Now I'm not sure sure. Any thoughts?

 

[Pugsabi]

Still too young to tell for sure. She still looks like a pullet for me. My girls like to chase each other and even chest bump so I think her behavior is normal.

 

[BlackHackle]

Roo, too much columbian feathers showing through for a hen that age

 

[Flockandfowl46]

Like @Pugsabi said still too young for positive but appears to be pulley to me

 

[BlackHackle]

Eh @JBirdy , would you mind posting some pictures of it when it gets older, not to be negative, but I would be curious to see this one turn out to be a pullet

 

[BlackHackle]

In columbian or light breeds, the roosters grow the black faster than the hens;

A light roo

a light hen

 

[Chicken Strut]

My thoughts are that it's way too young to tell and that behavior is a very poor indicator of gender when chicks are this young. And with all due respect to @BlackHackle, I wouldn't put too much reliance on the amount of black in the feathering, especially if your chick is "hatchery grade," as they say (all of mine are.) Here's my Light Brahma when she still had yellow in her feathers, a while after her white feathers came in, and on the day she laid her first egg. You may have a cockerel on your hands but we just can't tell yet. As for personality, my LB was standoffish with me and flighty as a chick but a cuddlebug and lap baby at maturity so your chick's bully behavior is subject to change.

 

[GrannyHeeney]

I lost both my teen Brahmas to a skunk a few months back but we'd begun to wonder if one of them was a roo. Stella was always the one to start a fight (the chest-bumping stuff, etc.), she would also do weird alarm-like calls at new stuff I'd put near her or in the brooder box, and when she was out for playtime on the couch in the evenings, she'd often strike a strange little head-way-up pose that we all thought was kinda rooster-ish looking. Are any of these actual signs of a cockerel mistaken for a pullet or should I chalk it up to "the weird stuff Stella did?"

 

[Pugsabi]

I lost both my teen Brahmas to a skunk a few months back but we'd begun to wonder if one of them was a roo. Stella was always the one to start a fight (the chest-bumping stuff, etc.), she would also do weird alarm-like calls at new stuff I'd put near her or in the brooder box, and when she was out for playtime on the couch in the evenings, she'd often strike a strange little head-way-up pose that we all thought was kinda rooster-ish looking. Are any of these actual signs of a cockerel mistaken for a pullet or should I chalk it up to "the weird stuff Stella did?"

There's no real way to tell for sure, of course, but it could have just been Stella's personality. I have a black sex link pullet who does all of those things too. She sounds different, is the first to check out anything new, stares at me with her head tilted whenever I bring something, and chases the others, sometimes with her hackles fluffed up. Otherwise she's pure girl. She's just the dominant one.