What gender is this Barred Rock Chick?

[sj3364]

Hi.

This is my first time keeping chickens. We bought 4 chicks 3 weeks ago. They were all supposed to be female. I'm worried my Barred Rock is a rooster. Though we thought the chick was a girl, my son named him/her Carl Sagan. Carl is about 2 weeks older than the other chick and is the only BPR. Carl is about 6 weeks old.

Here's a link to pics. I'm too new to post pics yet.

https://picasaweb.google.com/sj3364/Chickens?authkey=Gv1sRgCPC17_Ci5-frag&feat=directlink

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Sue

 

[chics in the sun]

I can't see the pictures very well, but that is a very red comb. Where did you get them from? Barred Rocks can be sexed right away by their coloring, so there should be no excuse for selling you a roo. The feathering is pretty dark, though.

 

[debid]

Red comb and wattles at 6 weeks screams roo. I think your son knew what he was doing with the name.

 

[JodyJo]

I mistakenly was sold Roos, 9 of them, BR and Australorp, I now have some female BR here are a few pics for you to see, I can't see yours very well. (Use the upload on BYC, it works great for me)

Roo

Pullet

 

[sj3364]

Thanks for the responses.

I don't have enough post yet to let me put the pics in my post so I had to link to them. I can upload them, just not include them in my posts.

It's so hard to photograph chicks. They just don't sit still!

I bought them from Family Farm and Home.

The confusing thing is that the big red comb and wattles say roo but the coloring is more hen. I will say that the black bar down the front of Carl's legs are not anywhere near as dark as the pullet in the JudyJo's picture. They look more like the roos'.

I really appreciate the responses.

Sue

 

[sj3364]

Oh, btw, if you click on the pics they get big and you can scroll though each one. Some of you mentioned you couldn't see the pics very well and that might help.

Thanks again.

Sue

 

[speckledhen]

At six weeks, that is a rooster, however, I don't think it's a pure BR. A dark male is what you usually get when you cross a BR rooster over a non-barred hen or a barred hen with a non-barred male. Some BR males come out dark, but not that dark in 99% of the cases. I have had some of those crosses, like Silver Phoenix over BR hen--they were thought to be BR pullets till that comb popped out at 3-4 weeks old.

 

[Schwartzfarmnc]

Wow! what big combs you have! I vote Roo all the way, my girls combs at that age was never that big.

Here's a pic of mine at 7 weeks, notice the much smaller combs and barely any red.

 

[RL]

Looks like a crockerel to me as well. It could be a Black-Sex-Link with it having the dark feathering, but sometimes you can get a dark male BR.

 

[sj3364]

Thanks everyone. I was pretty sure Carl was a roo but was hoping I was wrong. I may have to keep him until he crows because my son thinks it is wrong of me to give him away if we're not 100% sure.

So now I just have to decide if I replace him this year or wait until next spring. What is the quote I saw on someone siggy? Something like, "replace a roo with two". Sounds like that might be the plan.

Sue