Mixed Breed.. Roosters or Hens?

[tschica]

I have a few mixes here. Not even sure what breed they are.. except at least partial barred rock and maybe partial lavender orphington. I know one of these for sure is a rooster, but I'm hoping the others aren't.... The black/lavendar/barred rocks are all about 4 months old. I know for sure the one closest to the camera in the first picture is a roo, he crows... I'm just hoping the others arent. My buffs in the background are older. Thanks for your help!!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup, they are mixes. This doesn't matter to the bird and shouldn't bother you, if you like them, that's all that counts. A mixed bird cannot be any breed, of course. The concept of "breed" is a human invention. The birds that closely match the lengthy description of the breed, called the Standard, are that breed and those birds alone. Even being somewhat close to matching the description would still not make it a good example of the breed. That's the whole purpose of breeds. Hope that makes sense.

 

[tschica]

I'm really looking to see if people think they're all roosters.

Thanks!

 

[tschica]

Anyone??

 

[farmerChef]

all of your barred birds are roosters. Looks like they are black sexlinks, non barred male over barred female. So all the male offspring will be barred and the females won't.

they are starting to get their pointed saddle(back) and hackle(neck) feathers in, as well as the 2 large sickle feathers in the tail.
these are saddle feathers coming in on a 4 month old cockerel


here he is a few months older

 

[naightengale]

have you checked their neck feathers.. i had this problem too and found a web site (no idea now just did a web search didnt pay alot of attention to where it sent me) that said that if the neck feathers are rounded its a hen if they have sharp points its a roo...i tryed this out on my known chickens and it was acurate. so i myself am hoping it is true and most of my flock are hens.

 

[tschica]

Thanks! I was really hoping they weren't... Only one has started crowing, and they are all the same age.

 

[donrae]

The barred birds and the blue bird in the last pic with the large comb are roosters. That last one looks to maybe be blue barred, which would lend credence to the black sex-link theory.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

In your photos I see:
2 barred roosters, 1 lavender rooster, 1 lavender pullet, 1 buff hen, and 2 black hens.

I couldn't see the comb or body well enough of the 3rd black or the 2nd buff/white.

Lady of McCamley