what are chick behaviors/looks that would suggest it's a rooster?

[chickenmamalp]

I have been getting some straight runs and is there a way to tell if they are roos ? certain looks behaviors etc.. Is "fighting one of them? I mean baby chicks to several weeks?

 

[gritsar]

No, fighting amongst chicks is not an indicator of sex. Both pullets and cockerels must fight for their place in the pecking order.
In most breeds, the secondary sex characteristics began to show at 4 to 6 weeks. Before that they all look like cute little fuzzy butts. One thing I found with one of my roosters. He was always watching me when I visited the brooder. He never took his eyes off of me. He's almost two years old now and still doesn't take his eyes off of me.

 

[chickenmamalp]

what are those characteristics? The ones that show before you hear them crow?
Are you able to tell them apart?

 

[Tala]

Red combs when they are only a few weeks old, or the combs that grow the tallest the fastest - those are the best indicators. Also while they all have little combs, the roos will get wattles faster too.

The itty bitty cockerels are sometimes more prone to come up to your hand and bite it, while the rest of the chicks cower in the corner of the brooder ---- but that's NOT a guarantee!!!

It's a guessing game really. I have had really good luck at being able to tell very early on, but some breeds are just easier than others.

 

[chickenmamalp]

 

[MowNGrow]

Glad I came across this post. We have always had chickens and recently replaced our 6yr olds with two pullets (one is laying an egg every day to second day, other is yet to lay) Babies are now two weeks old. Don't plan on introducing them all till babies are 16 weeks or so. Question is, both babies are black but one has a white speck on the end of thier beak. Indication of a roo? We are in suburbia and can't have a roo so if that is the case I will have to adopt them out to a farm,,,,

 

[gritsar]

I'm on DH's computer right now. As soon as I can I'll boot my computer up and post some info. on the secondary sex characteristics for ya.
Didn't have to boot my puter up after all. I found the info. here on BYC:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48329

 

[PatS]

Last June we got our first chicks, ever, so I'm no expert. Two of our two-day-old buff orps were roos, ten were supposed to be girls. The roos were marked with red coloring on the tops of their heads, which meant that we could pick them out until they were old enough for US to tell they were boys because their little combs began turning red before the girls' did.

Well from the time they were just a few days old, the males would chest butt each other just like football players do. (In fact there is a LOT of similarity in the behavior of young roosters and football players!!!) One of the girls would do this with the boys, too. We joked we had a tom-boy in the mix. And lo and behold, "she" turned out to be a he! So it seemed to me that the chicks "knew" if they were male or female when they were just a few days old, and acted accordingly.

 

[gritsar]

All chicks will play fight. It's part of setting up the pecking order. It's not a reliable indicator of sex.

 

[dovecanyon]

gritsar - excellent link! Thanks! It confirms my original guess on some of my chicks.