(UPDATE p.4) BIG problem! All roosters but 1? I only bought pullets!

[speckledhen]

How old are they? I missed that. Below are two 12 week old BR pullets. See what I mean?

 

[walkswithdog]

Unless they're from a very light line, and it's not common but it happens, all the Barred Rocks are boys.

BR boys can be fairly late in comb development in some lines. Some quite early. (Like birth - as in Oh LOOK Boy)

Yours have a very light leg front, at this point quite thin hackles (suggesting you're about to get pointed hackle feathers coming in) and that uber light coloration all suggest boys.

My BR pullets are always practically pitch black as youngins, then thin white bars come.

If yours are girls - they'll make nice layers but they are improperly barred.

 

[speckledhen]

Let me show you a "baby" picture of my lightest-ever BR hen at 15 weeks old. Even then, her comb was small. Lexie is the lightest colored BR hen I've ever had and many BRs have come and gone here. Still, she is not as light as yours.

 

[rancher hicks]

I don't understand how you can't have some idea of their ages. Different breeds grow at different rates. My Delaware chicks were always the biggest from the start, hence we had a "Big Delores". Only thing is we can't tell which of the 3 is her. Check the books. Plus do you really know these are pure birds? If you now doubt the sellers sexing ability, why not their breeding. Even now I'm wondering about my chicks, 8 different breeds, The frizzle bantams are the only two who are crowing. They're all 15wks.

 

[Kitsap Cluckers]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Maybe I should have held out some hope before I ordered those pullets from Ideal last night?

As to the questions about their ages, any guess I made wouldn't be very accurate. I can say that Eileen was purchased at a feed store in Louisiana while I was traveling on April 15th. She was about the same size as a hatchling, but had some feathers sprouted on her wings and a poof of fine barred feathers on the tail.

The others came from a "farm" about and hour and a half from me in NC on May 19th. When I spoke to the owner on the phone, he sounded certain that he could sex the juvenile chickens for me, so the next day I made the journey. When I arrived, I immediately saw that this guy was no pro, but I blame myself for going ahead and letting him try to sex a few for me anyway. As I said in my initial post, chickens are hard to come by here! They all had a good deal of big chick feathers except for Scrappy, my free bonus, who had more bald red skin than feathers. I'm not worried too much about the refund- I think I paid $10 for the bunch. As for the chickens being purebred- who really knows!

About the light coloring, I think that Eileen's MAY have something to do with poor genetics. My mother in LA lives just a short drive from the feed store where I purchased Eileen, and she has 4 of the most light colored barred rock hens ever. They are just as light as her big beautiful roo.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I don't know..they look a lot like my barred rock pullets I think if I were you I would wait and see if they either lay or crow. My BR had a HUGE red comb early but she laid lots of eggs

Looks to me like you have more pullets then roos. Sometimes chickens are SO confusing!

 

[PotterWatch]

If you purchased Eileen on April 15th and say she was even 2wks old at that point, though it sounds like she was younger, it would still only be almost 12wks now and that comb and wattles are way too developed for a 12wk old BR pullet. I can't see how any of those BR could be pullets.

 

[speckledhen]

I sure hope I'm wrong! I'll be happy to be wrong.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I'm looking at Speckledhens BR pullet and looked at my pullet at the same age (I wish I could post the pic but can't at this time) but mine was WAY lighter and had a huge red comb already but she ended up being a girl

I DID think I had a lot of boys too but ended up being ALL pullets. I got mine from the hatchery and so they sure did not look like most standard ones I seen here. Keep thinking pullet! This will be interesting to see what they turn out to be. Keep us posted! I'm going to have hubby post the pic of my barred rock later today for you.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Don't give up hope yet, Amy!

What part of NC are you in?