Sight Sexing Barred Plymouth Rock Chicks at Hatch

[Chicken Strut]

@Faraday40 - Yep, a pretty pullet! I love this breed. My Dominique is my favorite - smart and curious and friendly from Day 1.

 

[mullys]

Faraday40 - how old is your Dominique "Bubbles" ? We have a 7 week old mystery chick that came into the shelter. Here she is at 5 weeks. Sure hoping Bess is a she!





Dark legs, small but reddish comb, quite wide black barring. None of these have changed at all in the two weeks we've had her.

 

[Faraday40]

Mine's 11.5 wks & growing fast. She's still the youngest in the flock.

My single comb breeds have much taller combs by 7 weeks, and because yours has so much black, I would guess a pullet. If it is hot outside, a chicks comb may appear darker pink, Pure BR males should have more white barring, while the females have more black. If it's a mix, however, these rules may not apply.

This is not my pic, but it shows the diff.

 

[Nils-Erik]

I bought these chichens a few days ago and wondered if anyone could help me sexing them. I'm not sure of their age. Let me know if I should take pictures from another angle.
1.

2.

3.

All.

Thank you in advance,
Nils-Erik

 

[Plymouth rock]

I notice a lot of misconceptions about sexing Barred Plymouth Rocks, and I wanted to make a post on just that. They can be sexed at hatch by a combination of down colour, head spot, and leg pigment. It's not just one of these things, but a combination of them. However, once chicks are feathered out they are relatively easy to sex based on overall colour unless you have the Stukel or Good Shepherd line of Barred Plymouth Rocks (you most likely do not have this line, so these tips are valid for you).
Example of fully feathered colour difference before any other sex characteristics are shown:

Photo Credit Pullets are overall darker than Cockerels due to having only one copy of the barring gene. Cockerels have two copies and this provides them with more white in between the black bars, giving them the appearance of being a shade lighter. Hens pass down a copy of the barring gene to their son ONLY. The Cock passes down a gene to both his sons, and his daughters. Let's give you some pointers on sexing these chicks once they are hatched and dried off. I came across a really helpful article dated February 1941 - so this is not a new trick. It is tried and true. I have successfully sexed my chicks based on this method:

Examples above are different male head spots

Above are examples of different types of female head spots. See bellow pictures of day olds in colour.

Above Males

Above Females

Leg pigment colour difference: Females darker, males lighter Now take into consideration that this works best for common Barred Plymouth Rocks. Exhibition Rocks are much trickier to sex at hatch. It's not about the SIZE of the head spot, but rather the definition of the head dot. An example of one of my MALE chicks at hatch. Small head dot, but not defined. Half circle of cream was visible on head.

Hi I'm not sure if this worked but I'm wondering if my lucky chick is a female or not. I've read everything above but without another to compare it gets a little hard (I'm a newbie to Plymouth) I was told that my chick is a double barred Plymouth rock

 

[country lovin]

My first barred rock. One day old. Any gueses?

 

[Plymouth rock]

Can someone please tell me if my chick is a pullet or cockerel?

 

[Chicken Strut]

Both of those last 2 are too young to know for sure. Cute little buggers! If you want a guess, @country lovin - boy because the head spot is not compact and defined. @Plymouth rock - girl because barring looks dark and polka dotted (instead of lighter with crisper barring) and legs have black wash down the front. My best guesses at this time.

 

[country lovin]

Both of those last 2 are too young to know for sure. Cute little buggers! If you want a guess, @country lovin - boy because the head spot is not compact and defined. @Plymouth rock - girl because barring looks dark and polka dotted (instead of lighter with crisper barring) and legs have black wash down the front. My best guesses at this time.

Bummer I was thinking the head spot kinda looked like f in the above article, along with the dark feet I was hoping I had picked good. Do you know if they can be wing sexed. The wings have uneven rows of feathers.

 

[Plymouth rock]

Both of those last 2 are too young to know for sure. Cute little buggers! If you want a guess, @country lovin - boy because the head spot is not compact and defined. @Plymouth rock - girl because barring looks dark and polka dotted (instead of lighter with crisper barring) and legs have black wash down the front. My best guesses at this time.