What are characteristics of a roo and at what age do you start to see

[harleyjo]

Hi,

Being new I have lots of questions. What are the characteristics you look for in chicks that make you know or think you have a roo and what age will you start to see them? BTW... I love this forum and have done lots of searches to find so much info. I read a little bit every day on here.

 

[bantam_n00b]

Im not an expert but i know the obvious would be the comb, roos usually have bigger combs at an earlier age also i heard that pullet chicks tend to feather faster but that is not always true. Also i heard that if the blood feathers are all the same length its usually a roo but thats not always accurate either.

 

[fastpat]

The earliest gender identifier is comb development, cockerels grow their combs much faster than pullets. This can be made more difficult by the type of comb the breed has. My Dominique cockerel has a rose comb, much flatter than my Partridge Rocks, but it is coming along and is much redder than the PR pullets.

In this photo, of 14 day old PR's, of the four chicks in focus, two are cockerels and two are pullets.

Although many of the pullets feathered in faster initially, not all of them did and there remained quite a bit of overlap with that. Now, in addition to the huge comb difference, the cockerels are much darker than the pullets.

 

[azygous]

When my Silver-laced Wyandottes were around six weeks old, I observed that two of the "pullets" were getting noticeably more vivid and colorful feathers. By seven weeks, it was obvious by the larger combs they were cockerels.

 

[Toi-toi]

Although many of the pullets feathered in faster initially, not all of them did and there remained quite a bit of overlap with that. Now, in addition to the huge comb difference, the cockerels are much darker than the pullets....

What do you mean "darker"?? Feathers?? Down???
I got SS and one is very darker than others. Is that sign for cockerel??

 

[fastpat]

Quote:
My chicks, as shown in my sig file, are 26 Partridge Rocks and one Dominique. The darker color I mentioned was for my PR's only, all breeds are different in that regard.

The surest sign of a cockerel is the comb development, which begins to differentiate at about two weeks.

 

[Toi-toi]

Quote:
My chicks, as shown in my sig file, are 26 Partridge Rocks and one Dominique. The darker color I mentioned was for my PR's only, all breeds are different in that regard.

The surest sign of a cockerel is the comb development, which begins to differentiate at about two weeks.

Oh that's good

My chicks are about 2.5weeks and they had all same size and color comb.
Crossing fingers for all girls!

 

[harleyjo]

Ok, this is one of the ones I am wondering about. She/He according to the hatchery is most likely a Production Red. She was thrown in with a box of BSL.

She is 5 weeks here.

 

[oldchickenlady]

I have 6 RIR and 6 Buff O's that I got from a local hatchery as sexed pullets. Well, one of the RIR is obviously not a pullet. He is bigger than the the others, he is getting little wattles under his beak, and his comb is almost 3x the size of the girls. His attitude is different too. I was hoping for all girls, but I can always take him to my neighbors who have some RIR hens free ranging.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

but how can you tell the difference in americaunas? theyve got almost no comb. mine are two weeks now and i really just cant tell as there isnt going to be much of any combing in each gender whatsoever...