Sexing Barred Rock Chicks

[wkellen]

Take a shot at this one. 17 chicks. Almost all BR. All 1-2 days old. B-)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Take a shot at this one. 17 chicks. Almost all BR. All 1-2 days old. B-)

5 cockerels, 8 pullets and the rest TBD.

 

[Fred's Hens]

There were 12 hatched in my last batch in June. I tagged them for male and female at 1 day, when the fuzz dried. (the hood is hiding 3 and 2 more were added after the photo. (late hatchers) I got a pretty good score card on this batch. LOL

 

[CuteHippieChic]

Any guesses to the gender of this chick?

 

[rosinsk1772]

As they grow I go by if they are black with grey stripes it's a hen if it is a grey bird with black stripes it's a roo

 

[csr326]

Looking at the chicks legs could be an indicator of sexing. "The sex-linked barring gene, B, is a potent inhibitor of dermal melanin. The Barred Plymouth Rocks, for example, would not have light shanks and feet if it were not for the fact that they have sex-linked barring. The female Barred Rocks tend to have darker shanks due to the dose effect of the barring gene."

 

[csr326]

That's a cockerel, the comb is too well developed and the barring is really light compare to a female.

 

[SlowQueen]

Alright folks, I submit for your best guesses a pic of my barred rocks. They will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday and at fist glance one seems to have a noticeable white dot on the head and lighter barring but the more I look at them the more confused I get! Curious to see what you think:

 

[Fred's Hens]

The left bird is male, a cockerel. The right bird, is female, a pullet.

Forget the head spot. The males have two barring genes which makes them appear "bolder" in white bars. See?

To confirm? Easy as pie. In two weeks? The bird on the left will sprout a red comb and tiny red wattles while the bird on the right will not. That is confirmation. Early red combs and wattles are cockerels.

 

[SlowQueen]

Thanks Fred, that's kind of what I was thinking too. We have a list of names on the fridge and I think theses two might be Duke and Daisy