Roo or Pullet? BR chick

[SulkyBantam]

Midweek update, the chicks are officially 3 weeks old now, I tried to get some comb and feet pictures. Little Suspect seems to be developing a comb, it also has a smokers peep, kinda raspy, but, I have a BR hen with a raspy voice as well so gosh I'm so confused! Lol! Is anyone seeing cockerel tendencies here?

Maybe you all can give me advice on this one, I have this BR plus 3 EE's that I have my eye on for being possible roos. If the BR is a roo, we will probably keep it as long as it stays nice and is a gentleman, but my husband really wanted 6 BR hens, so if it is a roo it throws off his ideal BR flock. Then, we have 6 EE's, if 3 are roos I'll be bummed because I'd like at least 4 EE hens. We are making a coop for this new flock, so if I have 4 roos I'll want to replace at least 3, but we won't know for sure for another 2 months, by then if we get replacement chicks they'll need their own little pen and we are out of space.

Or, do we just got get more chicks now so they are only 3 weeks apart and in a week or two I could put them together to grow up as a flock, and then I have the right number of coops, but will just likely need to sell off a couple IF my suspect roos turn out to be pullets.

I guess the other option is to wait and if they are roos get replacement chicks next year. But that's all thought out and logical and goes against all chicken math!

Well done on the comprehensive pics! Not everyone manages to get that many. At three weeks I'm leaning SLIGHTLY towards cockerel but I could completely wrong.

 

[2ndTink]

Well done on the comprehensive pics! Not everyone manages to get that many. At three weeks I'm leaning SLIGHTLY towards cockerel but I could completely wrong.

That's about where I'm at too, most days.

What kind of percentages are typical if a chick is looking like it could be a roo? If someone posts a suspect chick, do 50% of those turn out to be pullets? Or if people are leaning cockerel does it turn out to be one 75% or more of the time? I know early indicators aren't 100%, I guess I'm just wondering if there's a way to weight these chick's pullet chances to help determine if I should consider getting replacements now, or waiting and I'm am engineer so, give me numbers and facts!!!

If I get enough info I'm likely to build a spreadsheet of early roo indicators you can check off that will give you a % likelihood of a suspect chick ending up being a roo

 

[SulkyBantam]

That's about where I'm at too, most days.

What kind of percentages are typical if a chick is looking like it could be a roo? If someone posts a suspect chick, do 50% of those turn out to be pullets? Or if people are leaning cockerel does it turn out to be one 75% or more of the time? I know early indicators aren't 100%, I guess I'm just wondering if there's a way to weight these chick's pullet chances to help determine if I should consider getting replacements now, or waiting and I'm am engineer so, give me numbers and facts!!!

If I get enough info I'm likely to build a spreadsheet of early roo indicators you can check off that will give you a % likelihood of a suspect chick ending up being a roo

It honestly depends on whether that person can tell a roo from a hen most of the time!

 

[2ndTink]

It honestly depends on whether that person can tell a roo from a hen most of the time!

I really hope I'm bad at it and I really have all pullets! But, buying a few back up chicks really isn't a bad idea right? Then we could pick our favorites and sell the extras, or roos, whichever it ends up being

But then, what are the chances we would actually sell some

 

[SulkyBantam]

I really hope I'm bad at it and I really have all pullets! But, buying a few back up chicks really isn't a bad idea right? Then we could pick our favorites and sell the extras, or roos, whichever it ends up being

But then, what are the chances we would actually sell some

Uh, sorry, but pretty low. If there was a market for unwanted roos, then they wouldn't be unwanted

 

[citymeetscountry]

Hey @2ndTink ! Here’s our BRs from last August when we got them and when they were around 3 weeks old. Top was a cockerel and bottom is our pullet.

Based on the head spot of yours I’d guess cockerel BUT based on comb I’d guess pullet.

Time will tell

Edited to add:just saw to updated pics. Still hard to tell, but those legs are making me lean towards cockerel.

 

[2ndTink]

Uh, sorry, but pretty low. If there was a market for unwanted roos, then they wouldn't be unwanted

Lol, well they might be wanted in a stew pot. I was angling more toward me having the will power to actually part with any "extra" chickens, whether they were pullets or roos. We butchered a meat chick last year, let her get too old, good gosh that was some thick stringed meat.

 

[2ndTink]

Hey @2ndTink ! Here’s our BRs from last August when we got them and when they were around 3 weeks old. Top was a cockerel and bottom is our pullet.

Based on the head spot of yours I’d guess cockerel BUT based on comb I’d guess pullet.

Time will tell

Edited to add:just saw to updated pics. Still hard to tell, but those legs are making me lean towards cockerel.

The strong white on the wings of your cockerel looks like what we have. Guess how well I do with unknowns?

 

[citymeetscountry]

The strong white on the wings of your cockerel looks like what we have. Guess how well I do with unknowns?

This was closer to 4 weeks I think. Having 2 made it a lot easier to figure out/compare. He was my favorite, but unfortunately his hormones got the best of him and he attacked our 5 year old so he went off to freezer camp somewhere

 

[2ndTink]

This was closer to 4 weeks I think. Having 2 made it a lot easier to figure out/compare. He was my favorite, but unfortunately his hormones got the best of him and he attacked our 5 year old so he went off to freezer camp somewhere

Great, so 1 more week and it might be obvious! Kidding I've been trying to find the chick pictures of our other BRs since they are from the same hatchery. Maybe this one is just going to be a bossy pullet. I actually took my JG to a poultry sale last year with my two roos just to get a hands on opinion on her gender. She had a massive red comb and wattles from a young age and was super aggressive with the other chickens and the roos never attempted to mount her.