Plymouth Rock Chicks - Any idea on the sex?

[Amanda777]

Any idea on what sex these 2 week old chicks are?

 

[holm25]

Its a little hard to tell yet. Maybe @speckledhen could help. She is the Barred Rock queen and amazing atbguessimg genders.

 

[donrae]

I'm not seeing a nice dark wash on any of their legs, which leads me to think cockerels on all of them. However, the pics aren't the greatest, and the're at that in between stage when the head spot isn't always accurate, but they're not feathered in enough to see the difference in barring. I'd say post again around 5ish weeks and we'll see how things look then.

 

[Amanda777]

Thanks @donrae & @holm25. Will post more in a week or so

 

[speckledhen]

Okay, let me say that this quality of chick is MUCH harder to sex by normal BR rules than hatchery BRs are. They don't appear to be hatchery Rocks, right? The legs are not really yellow yet, which can happen. They should turn more their proper color as the chicks age, I've noticed with some better quality Rocks. They're at the "pinky-baby leg" stage anyway. If they don't turn yellow, well, just watch out for that if you're going to be breeding. Rocks should have yellow legs.

Since having my Stukel line BRs, I've been wrong more than once, even calling a pullet a cockerel a few times on my own chicks. The reason is that the pullets do not always have much dark wash down the legs and the cockerels sometimes do have a little. Sometimes, the head spots are not easy to ID, either, on decent quality BRs.

However, I will say that the chick on the top photo is a cockerel, IMO. The main reason is the frosting you see going around from the back of the neck to the sides. It's very faint and easy to miss, but it's there. I can't really hazard a good guess on the others from photos. These are some you almost have to see in person to make a decent guess. My own rooster,Atlas, looked like a pullet at first, with a very precise and tiny head spot. I missed the almost imperceptible frosting he had because the spot on his head was so darn defined like a pullet's usually would be. He had a little dark wash on his legs, further clouding the issue.

Hatchery BRs are super easy 99% of the time. When I had those, I had no trouble at all. I think I made a mistake on two in all the years I had those and raised chicks from them.

 

[Amanda777]

Okay, let me say that this quality of chick is MUCH harder to sex by normal BR rules than hatchery BRs are. They don't appear to be hatchery Rocks, right? The legs are not really yellow yet, which can happen. They should turn more their proper color as the chicks age, I've noticed with some better quality Rocks. They're at the "pinky-baby leg" stage anyway. If they don't turn yellow, well, just watch out for that if you're going to be breeding. Rocks should have yellow legs.

Since having my Stukel line BRs, I've been wrong more than once, even calling a pullet a cockerel a few times on my own chicks. The reason is that the pullets do not always have much dark wash down the legs and the cockerels sometimes do have a little. Sometimes, the head spots are not easy to ID, either, on decent quality BRs.

However, I will say that the chick on the top photo is a cockerel, IMO. The main reason is the frosting you see going around from the back of the neck to the sides. It's very faint and easy to miss, but it's there. I can't really hazard a good guess on the others from photos. These are some you almost have to see in person to make a decent guess. My own rooster,Atlas, looked like a pullet at first, with a very precise and tiny head spot. I missed the almost imperceptible frosting he had because the spot on his head was so darn defined like a pullet's usually would be. He had a little dark wash on his legs, further clouding the issue.

Hatchery BRs are super easy 99% of the time. When I had those, I had no trouble at all. I think I made a mistake on two in all the years I had those and raised chicks from them.

Thanks so much!! These are the first chicks we have ever had so are clueless about sexing them. We bought them from day old so our 2 young children could enjoy raising them. We bought them from a local breeder. I will post some better photos next week and see what you think then thanks again

 

[speckledhen]

Here is an old reference article that speaks about sexing BR chicks:


Quote: I dont have the attached photos from the article, sorry.
This photo shows all pullets, though, from another reference article about sexing Dominiques (same principle as BRs).



All males in this pic-the second from the left has frosting around the head, though at first glance, you see a defined head spot that could fool you.

 

[drumstick diva]

Beautiful chicks, agree with donrae on gender at this early point.

 

[Smoda]

I love Plymouth Rocks.

(Sorry if I'm doubling up on info already said above) Usually cockerel have more white, so for pullets your looking for thicker black baring on the wings. As mentioned above dark legs can be pullet sign. Here's a really handy picture taken from an old book about Plymouth Rock gender. Hope this helps!

 

[speckledhen]

Here was Atlas-you see he didn't have a humongous cockerel type head spot, but you also see the "frosting" around the back of the head that I missed at first. Good photos sometimes show things you miss with the naked eye.




By this age, you could already see the comb so it was obvious he was male, but you can see the dark wash on his legs. This just shows that not all males have "clean" legs.
(Atlas is 3/4 Stukel heritage line Barred Plymouth Rock, 1/4 Delaware)