Tricky BO--late developing roo or early developing pullet?

[Andora]

My other BO's have always clearly been roos or pullets by five or six weeks. This chick is 12 weeks old now, and just in the past few days its face has reddened and it has tiny red wattles sprouting. I have one other BO of the same age--she is larger and rounder in body size, she has a light colored little comb, and she has no red on her face at all.

Here is the confusing BO. For some reason this bird is skittish, I had to chase it around a bush to get any pictures.

And in this picture the BO in question is the bird facing away in the very center, the other one with no red in the face is the one back near the rabbit waterer.

What do you think? The face on it is really reddening, but the comb isn't red or very big like other BO roos have been by this age.

 

[gritsar]

There's one pic where it looks roo-ish to me - the third pic down. In all the other pics it looks definitely hen-ish.

 

[horsejody]

I vote pullet

 

[Andora]

I told you--it's a tricky one.

Do you need better pictures of any parts? I might be able to grab it tonight when it roosts in the coop...

 

[pinkfeather]

Gee, from the looks of the face [comb/wattles] I'd say pullet. The tail feathers in the 2nd and 3rd picture thought looks like a roo. But I don't see any roo hackles or sattles either..... I'm going to say pullet.

 

[crtrlovr]

looks girly to me

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Looks like a pullet to me.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I think pullet. Even though she may be slightly advanced in her comb development compared to your others, her comb is still way too small for a 12 week old BO roo. They can't all develop at the 'exact' same rate.

 

[hinkjc]

I would guess pullet too. If you hold her (I know..yeah right for a skiddish one) and check down under the fluff at the base of where her tail connects to her back..you should see some bright gold pointy feathers coming in if it's a boy. The tricky part is catching her. I must admit I've never seen a 12 week roo with a single comb/wattle that small..ever.

 

[Andora]

I grabbed it (her) tonight at dusk when she got on the roost and I swear she wanted to peck my eyeballs out.

I don't know why these two BO's are so skittish, the ones I had before in my old flock were so tame and sweet. Anyway, I looked her over very carefully and saw no pointy feathers, at the neck area or around the rump. I put her back and got out the for certain pullet and compared her feathers, and I couldn't find any difference.

I hope you all are right and she's just an early developing hen. Hey, maybe that means she'll lay sooner?

The BO's I had before turned into definite roos by five weeks with big red combs and rapidly growing wattles. This bird just has little wattles and a tiny comb that is mostly pale. Six of my flock (most of which were supposed to be pullets) have turned into definite roosters, so I saw her sudden reddened face and panicked! I don't want yet another rooster!