When can you tell if you have any roo's?

[ChickForLife]

I have anticipated and re anticipated if/which of my chicks are roos's. I ordered all pullets, but I have suspisions of some being roo's. I was wondering, at what age can I/BYC tell the difference between roo's and pullets? Thank you!

 

[Bert96746]

Depending on the breed, you can start to tell by 5ish weeks. Their combs and wattles will grow larger and turn more of a red color before the girls do.

 

[sealer39]

How old are they now and what breeds?

 

[ChickForLife]

I have 10 chicks, 2 light Brahmas, 2 Black stars, 3 RIR's, and 3 Olive Eggers.

They are all 3 weeks old.

 

[sealer39]

Soon, if not already, you will start seeing larger and redder combs and developing wattles on the suspected cockerels. When you post pics get a head shot and broad side shot of them.
You can probably post pics now of your suspected cockerels and people who have those breeds will be able to tell what they are even at three weeks.

 

[bpoore04]

Also I don’t know if this is true or not but when all of mine were chicks, the girls could jump and fly and the guys could barely make it off the ground

 

[jsr5]

And as silly as it seems you can put your hand in the brooder and lightly shake your finger at em kinda in their face the girls will likely put heads down and try to get in the huddle the boys are likely to put their heads up and kinda follow the finger or puff out the chest and raise tiny hackles a bit. Sounds silly but has proven to be pretty accurate.

 

[ChickForLife]

Okay thanks, good to know. I think I have one that can't fly off the ground, lol!

Here are my pics

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[ChickForLife]

One sec, I messed up. I am going to edit.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Too early to tell for sure, but lots of suspect combs in there from size, but not color. Usually cockerel combs get darker red than the pullets. I also look at the girth of the legs. In my experience cockerels have a much more developed undercarriage / thicker legs than my pullets. Ultimately, when they start feathering out well you can tell from their saddle and arrow feathers. And of course there's always that first pathetic crow that sounds like a cross between a dying frog and a cat in heat.