Male or Female?

[Zerinala]

16 wk old ISA BROWN

 

[artfrae]

Based on tbe cackle feathers, id say a roo. Not sure though, i'm new to this.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If that is truly a first generation ISA Brown, then it is a female.

ISA Brown is one of the many names of a red sex link. They go by Red Star, Gold Star, Cinnamon Queen, Red Sex Link and ISA Brown.

They are a hybrid obtained from a red color based roo bred to a white color based female. As the female determines the sex of the chicks, all girls will carry the red coloring from the father and all males will carry the white coloring from the mom.

Thus sex links, as the name implies, are sexed by appearance. The males and females are obvious through their feather colors from hatching. The girls will hatch gold with red, the boys will hatch pale yellow/white.

Adult females are red based (with white splashes) and males are white based (with some red bleed through).

So you have a pullet that looks close to laying.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Zerinala]

Can't be 100% sure if it's a true Isa or a second gen. Want to make sure I wasn't lied to when I was told it was a pullet.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

It looks like a regular Red Sex Link pullet....so I wouldn't worry. I don't think you were lied to.

And she is very close to laying. Watch for eggs to come shortly.
Lady of McCamley

EDITED TO ADD: That is with the assumption she is really 16 weeks old. If she is younger, then you may have a 2nd generation roo. Her neck hackles are a little spikier, and her tail has a feather that curls a little...but several of my mature Red Sex Link hens also look like that...could be twins. If she were a roo at 16 weeks, her comb and wattles would be much larger. Now, if the next several weeks you see the longer tail feather begin to grow more circular...long sickle hanging down...and she begins to get saddle feathers (just in front of the tail) that are spiky, and those hackle feathers get longer and even spikier...than she isn't 16 weeks nor a she...it would be a he.

 

[Zerinala]

Thankyou for your help. It's nice to find out I have 1 pullet. The 7, 5 wk olds seem to all be roosters

Thanks again for helping, and i will keep my eyes peeled for eggs.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I think that she's a pullet, too. Judging by the comb reddness and size, she'll be laying soon.