The Big Fat Is This A Rooster? Thread

[XxMingirlxX]

He's got some white feathering above the earlobe, but the earlobe itself is red. 
None of the birds in question have white earlobes.
And there are lots of breeds with white earlobes besides Leghorns.

True

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Bump!

 

[Irish hen lady]

All three are cockerels. And judging by the saddle feathers, they are between 12 and 16 weeks old. 

Oops! I've been meaning to get back to you all! Yes, all 3 turned out to be roosters, as did a fourth "pullet" we had bought from the same breeder... Oddly, this 4th one was small, physically understated, and very feminine, but turned out to be the cockiest of the lot... The rest of my hens were being... Pestered by him!
All were returned to the breeder, who only then told us she wasn't sure what they were herself when we bought them. As she had sold them to us as pullets, we turned the thumbscrews on her,and came away with 2 lovely little purebred Welsummers, both started laying in the past couple of days (easter eggs!),and 3 younger little Black Star pullets (which I believe are autosexing :-D).
Thanks again everyone for your insight... I learned a lot from the experience I can tell you!

 

[junebuggena]

Oops! I've been meaning to get back to you all! Yes, all 3 turned out to be roosters, as did a fourth "pullet" we had bought from the same breeder... Oddly, this 4th one was small, physically understated, and very feminine, but turned out to be the cockiest of the lot... The rest of my hens were being... Pestered by him!
All were returned to the breeder, who only then told us she wasn't sure what they were herself when we bought them. As she had sold them to us as pullets, we turned the thumbscrews on her,and came away with 2 lovely little purebred Welsummers, both started laying in the past couple of days (easter eggs!),and 3 younger little Black Star pullets (which I believe are autosexing :-D).
Thanks again everyone for your insight... I learned a lot from the experience I can tell you!

Black Stars aren't autosexing, they are black sexlinks. Autosexing breeds, breed true. Sexlinks are crossbreeds that do not breed true. Black sexlinks usually are a cross between a Rhode Island Red rooster and a Barred Rock hen. Barred hens can only pass their barring gene to their male offspring so you can easily identify which are males and which are females at hatching. Only the males will have the white head spot indicating the barring gene. But this only works for the first generation cross. You can not breed sexlinks together and still be able to sex them at hatching by chick down, unlike a true autosexling breed.

 

[Irish hen lady]

Barred hens can only pass their barring gene to their male offspring so you can easily identify which are males and which are females at hatching. Only the males will have the white head spot indicating the barring gene

Yes, sorry... That was my understanding alright, but got my terminology mixed up

 

[moe03xb]

I posted elsewhere but found this thread so I'll post here too. I got 9 chicks the last week of January and three were supposed to be arucaunas. I believe they are EE though and one doesn't look like the other two. Any help would be great and these are my first chickens ever.

Those were taken yesterday

These about 2 weeks ago

One of the other "arucaunas" for comparison

 

[junebuggena]

I posted elsewhere but found this thread so I'll post here too. I got 9 chicks the last week of January and three were supposed to be arucaunas. I believe they are EE though and one doesn't look like the other two. Any help would be great and these are my first chickens ever.



Those were taken yesterday

These about 2 weeks ago



One of the other "arucaunas" for comparison

They are Easter Eggers. The black and white one does look a bit like a cockerel, but the red light is distorting the comb color, so can't tell you for sure. The only way you can get true Araucana is from a breed, and they never have muffs (fluffy cheeks).

 

[Artski]

I was told this was a sexlink and is now 5 weeks old.

 

[DuyChick]

Is there an age that the average RIR starts crowing? If so what is it

 

[junebuggena]

I was told this was a sexlink and is now 5 weeks old.

What kind of sexlink, and do you know what breed the rooster and hen where?