What breed is this?

[bestusnestus]

Just curious, what shows you it's a rooster? I got my rhode island red cross with new hapmshire chicks when they were five days old , there were four chicks but they said one was a rooster cos it was yellow. Well I couldn't really see a difference they all looked yellow to me!

That's a different kind called a sexlink. With the brown kind, the roosters are a light yellow and the hens are a light reddish brown. There are also black ones where if they have a white dot on top of the head it's a rooster. We have a bunch of those kinds.

According to my research, the sumatra is not a sexlink.

 

[bestusnestus]

I've been looking around the internet at sumatras and I've found pictures of hens that have feathers that look just like my hen's/rooster's. Plus mine doesn't have any spurs and acts like a hen around my other roosters.
I don't know

we once had a turkey that was an 'it'.

 

[shell3]

Sex link? I don't know! They said one was male because it was more yellow than the others, these are my first chickens they are 11 weeks old now. They sent the more yellow one/ male back to the farm as they don't let you keep those,( my sons school hatched them from eggs) think there's a pic of them as chicks on my profile pics and they look yellow to me but what do I know!

 

[shell3]

no no pic on there! so heres one:
guess they do have darker bits but i found it very hard to tell them apart from the one that went back!

 

[shell3]

Btw the staff at the school didn't have a clue what breed they were when I asked they shrugged and said " chicken" lol I tracked the breeder down on line and phoned him up he said they are cross bred rhode island red and new Hampshire .

 

[shell3]

Bestusnestus".......... If its a rooster will you still keep him?

 

[bestusnestus]

Well the three I see in your picture look like females to me, but without seeing the fourth one I can't really make a valid comparison.
If I remember right, the breeds you said they are can be hard to tell if you don't have much experience with them.
Although I should add that I don't always go by color alone. There is an 'old wive's' trick that I use.

When they are a week old I flip them on their backs in my hand for a few seconds. If the legs stay up in the air it's most likely a hen. If the legs stretch out flat it's most likely a rooster. If you get a mixed result try again tomorrow. I haven't really tested it yet, but so far most of my guesses have been right.

Which reminds me, with my sumatra, I always got a mixed result.

As to keeping him if it is a rooster, yes I will, I might even get more sumatras if he does well over the winter. I know they are a warm weather breed, but our coop stays pretty toasty.

 

[shell3]

thanks for that, very interesting, mine better be hens! lol dont think neighbours would be impressed with a rooster! anyway im vegan and planning on eating the eggs so if ones a rooster then no eggs for me! lol not that i wouldnt love it just as much x

 

[donrae]

Op--when you get a free chick, it's often a rooster, even if the rest of your order is hens. No hen has those long shiney feathers from her neck or in front of her tail, that is a definate roo trait.

 

[juliechick]

I borrowed this pic from someone here on BYC. I hope they don't mind. I just did a search and found it. See the difference in the hen (front) and rooster? The hen does not have those long, pointed, shiny hackle and saddle feathers. Your chicken is a rooster. He just doesn't have a nice long tail like he should. Maybe it's been picked out.