sex that chick!

[MTchick]

Here are a bunch of photos of my two chicks that I fear may be roosters (plus a photo of one I am pretty sure is female). All these girls are three and a half weeks old.

First, the Barred Rock (nicknamed Biggie) that is bigger the other Barred Rock. Her comb is not reddish, by the way, and the difference between her tail and her sisters tail is pretty darn subtle.
Here is Biggie, possible roo;

And again, Biggie, possible roo;

And now her sister, the smaller Barred Rock (same age), doesn't seem roo-ish

Now, a brief photo essay on my possibly mixed blood Silver Laced Wyandotte. This SLW has a funky brown-red patch of streaky color on her head, and has a comb exactly like the Barred Rocks, which is weird because I've read they should have rose combs. The most worrisome part is that she has a little tiny start to some wattles, I think. Here she is (her name is Rosie), possible roo;

Rosie again, this time outside, possible roo;

In this one, I tried to show the little red pre-wattley area near her beak.

OK experts! Am I off-track? Do these look like girls or boys?

Thanks for the help. I'm dying to know!

-MTchick

 

[Picco]

Biggie looks like a roo to me, but I'm not sure about the others.

 

[JillsChicks]

I'm having trouble sexing my Plymouth Barred Rock chicks too. They are two weeks old.
They are all supposed to be pullets, but of thefour, three are more advanced in their feathering. Could I have a roo in the one that is feathering more slowly?

Behaviors have been a different thing. One of the fast-feathering chicks is always the first one out of the cage to greet me and sit on my hand. It loves to be touched. The chick that is slow feathering is much more afraid of handling.

If this were someone else's post, I'd say the last bird described is a pullet, but the other 3 are roos! But I'm not supposed to have any roos!

Here are the pics - This first chick is the friendly one with the most advanced feathering.

This next one is the shy chick with little feather development at two weeks old...

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I bet the chick who is shy and not feathering as fast is the last one on the pecking order. That means she might not get enough chow, or is harassed by the other ones. This is normal though. If she's not all beat up, she's okay. Watch her to see if she gets to eat. Maybe you could try feeding her separately for a little while each day, or put in another feeder.

 

[patandchickens]

I'm following this thread closely because I have a buncha 2 wk olds (different breeds) that I am trying to sex, and not liking how some of the 'wrong ones' combs are getting awful big awful fast

I just wanted to comment on:

This SLW has a funky brown-red patch of streaky color on her head, and has a comb exactly like the Barred Rocks, which is weird because I've read they should have rose combs.

My understanding is that wyandottes, at least hatchery wyandottes, have a low but nonzero rate of single combs (it's a recessive gene and thus can go hidden til you mate the wrong 2 chickens together and get a 1-in-4 surprise). So that's not inconsistant with her being a SLW.

Great pictures, btw-- they really show the birds' personalities

Pat, terribly afraid that her son's favorite chick, the campine runt, is going to be a cockerel, and we are NOT keeping a runty roo of a breed that I don't think I want any roo anyhow...

 

[speckledhen]

Pat is correct. Lots of SLWs have single combs. One of my three hatchery SLW girls has one. It is not unusual. The first one, I can't really see the coloring because of the lighting in the picture, but it doesn't look particularly roo-ish to me there.
Ann (jillschicks), I'm not sure about yours; because of the glare in the pics, they may appear more silvery than they are. The second one seems to be quite light colored, a common sign of a rooster, but I think the light in the photo could be throwing me off. However, that second one seems to have no dark on the leg fronts, usually a sign of a cockerel. Nothing is 100%, though.

 

[JillsChicks]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

My "shy" chick is only shy with people. I've not caught any of the chicks picking on each other; they all seem to eat, sleep, drink and play well together.

I just read a little more on the Barred Rock Club of America website and someone said that a "distinct" white spot on the head is the sign of a pullet; a diffuse one is the sign of a roo. My shy chick has the biggest spot, but it doesn't have definite edges like the other chicks.