Sexing 2 and a half week old Barred Rock Chicks

[Hensforbrains]

I'd say they're all pullets but #7 might be a roo. I have experience with BRs

i hope your right

 

[aa79606]

I will upload more pictures in a few weeks but I am starting to get the impression I have mostly cockerels

Don't feel bad, I was given 5 chicks in the spring, and 4 of them turned out to be boys. Some of us are just lucky like that!

 

[Littleshadow]

Males are evenly barred, sometimes even having more white then black. Females are not evenly barred and show more black then white (in BRs). This is because the barring gene is heavily influenced in males who have 2 barring genes while the female cou ter part only has one.

When attempting to sex barred rocks keep that above statement in mind. But don't make or rush decisions.

I never recommended sexing by the "headspot" as I've found this to be extremely ineffective.
My setting methods go like this.
At a day old, generally, males will be a smokey gray color, black head, white spot and chest. While females will generally be black (not smokey) with the white headspot. This is how I sex my chicks at hatch.
I've found, with my flock, this is 85% accurate.

Females will also have this "dark wash" that goes down the legs of the bird while the males legs are yellow. This is general I've had a female will yellow legs. She was an oddball.

The first two pictures are the same pullet. A week old in the first picture and 11 weeks in the second picture.

The third and fourth picture are the same cockerel. Again, a week and then 11 weeks.
It's hard to tell them apart sometimes but looking for small differences is key.
I never sex by the headspot.
I never jump the gun of comb/wattle developement (unless other key points point to cockerel).
Good luck! Post pictures in a few weeks, if you can post a pic of their backs so we can see the barring a little easier.

 

[drumstick diva]

Wait till they are 8 weeks of age or more, and you'll get firm answers rather than guesses. You can't hurry nature.

 

[Laodicia]

1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are boys. 4 and 7 are girls. Boys will have lighter legs, lighter black down, wider white barring, and the spots on their heads usually have more than one spot. A female will have just one spot. How defined the spot is doesnt matter. So it might look like 2 even if its one.

Basically first go by feathers. If its hard to tell check to see if the legs have black down the front if not its a boy if yes its likely a girl. If the feathers and legs could go either way look at the head spots. More than one seperate spot - size doesnt matter its likely a boy. One spot likely a girl. If you still cant tell wait until you have red combs that are starting to get bigger. Its only a few more weeks 7 is definately a girl shes almost all black. Her comb will stay small compair the other combs to hers at about 5 or 6 weeks.

I got 10 fertile barred rock eggs from a breeder. These 7 hatched and i have no idea what i am doing when it comes to sexing them. I have looked at other threads and i can sort of see what they are on about exept when i look at my ones. sorry that some of the pictures are blurry.

please help

chick 1
View attachment 1144816 View attachment 1144817
chick 2View attachment 1144819 View attachment 1144824

chick 3
View attachment 1144825 View attachment 1144826

chick 4View attachment 1144827 View attachment 1144829

chick 5
View attachment 1144830 View attachment 1144832


chick 6
View attachment 1144834 View attachment 1144835

chick 7View attachment 1144836

 

[speckledhen]

As I said, sexing is more art than science, but there is scientific method to it that you go by. The kicker is that hatchery stock is generally EASIER to sex, in my experience, than my heritage line. I could reliably sex the hatchery descended birds I had early on AT HATCH. Only made one mistake out of maybe 60-70 chicks. My Marvin Stukel line is MUCH harder to get right at the beginning because males have a little wash on their legs at times, pullets sometimes have very little and the headspot? Forget it! It can be very confusing.

You have mostly cockerels, there is no doubt in my mind after raising BRs for a dozen years. I love BRs, love, love, LOVE them. But mine are bred for temperament so the roosters are not aggressive to humans. Hatchery stock is more of a crap shoot in that regard.

check out this document, starting on Page 5 is the section on sexing day-old Barred Rock chicks:
http://www.ksre.k-state.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB307.PDF

Here is the section w/o pictures for you:

Historical Document
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station

SEX IDENTIFICATION IN PUREBREDS
BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS

It had long been recognized that the size of the light head
spots in Barred Plymouth Rocks varied in the two sexes. The
males tend to have larger headspots and the females to have
darker colored legs. However, this method has not been sufficiently
accurate to be of much commercial value.
Quinn and Knox (1939) attempted to separate the sexes of
Barred Plymouth Rocks by means of the intensity of the black
pigment in the down and legs. In different lots of chicks they
report 83.5, 86.1 and 91.8 percent accuracy.
Jerome (1939) describes a method of sex identification in
Barred Plymouth Rocks based upon the regularity of the outline
of the head spot rather than the size of the spot. Those chicks
having headspots irregular in outline and scattered in appearance
are males while the females tend to have headspots with
more regular outlines. The author claimed an accuracy of 90
percent or better when considering only the headspot and 95
percent if the color of the legs was included in the consideration.
The Canadian Department of Agriculture (Anonymous 1941)
issues an excellently illustrated bulletin describing the method.
It is stated in the bulletin that the method “is widely practiced
in Barred Rock chicks by commercial chick sexers.” Sex identification
is based upon outline of head spot, color of legs and
shade of down color. There are several types of male and female
head spots some of which are shown in Figure 1.

 

[Hensforbrains]

This is the same chicks now. 2 females, 5 males

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

View attachment 1185033
This is the same chicks now. 2 females, 5 males

Yup! You are correct! I know that feeling. Why so many roosters?????

 

[speckledhen]

Then, it came out like folks called it, two pullets and the rest male. Hey, it could be worse. I recently had an all-male hatch of Brahmas, four of them. The next batch of six made up for it by being four pullets and only two cockerels. The roll of the dice!