# Are these Male or Female?



## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

I bought a few chicks from the local farm store 3 months ago. My kiddo insist that one of those will be a rooster because he thinks he's starting to show a small crown, a flap under the beak, and a red cheek. I have no idea what kind of chicks they are, hence have no way to google their picture. However, judging from most of the rooster pictures I found online, roosters should have way bigger crowns?

Here are some pictures of the one chick in question. Can anyone help identify the gender?

Thanks in advance!!


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

Mine (also from a farm store) are only a few weeks old and I’m not terribly familiar with chicken breeds yet. I wonder though if they are a red sex link which is common for feed stores. There would definitely not be any roosters. But, if they are Rhode Island Reds, there could be roosters. (I have both breeds and they look a lot alike still.) Anyways, that doesn’t help you much here. A rooster will start to get the get distinctive feathering with darker and pointy hackle and saddle feathers. It’s really hard for me to spot the differences unless it is super obvious and you have a hen and a rooster right next to each other!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

For me better pics would be better. Like Sarah mentioned seeing the whole bird helps.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Rooster , way too much comb development for 12 weeks old.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

yep, definitely rooster and I would say it's a Rhode Island Red. I may be wrong on that but that's exactly what mine looked like at that age


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

robin416 said:


> For me better pics would be better. Like Sarah mentioned seeing the whole bird helps.


That makes sense.. I will try to get some pictures of the whole bird tomorrow and post here.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Nm156, Sylie, thank you for your responses... We were hoping it won't be roosters as the farm store says it's 90% female with the chicks. Now that both of you think it's a rooster, we're going to have to figure out how to handle a rooster in our coop as we have 3 other egg laying hens.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The scary part is when NM says something, most of the time he's right. Let's hope the pic makes him wrong for once. 

That would be a date to remember.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

How many birds do you have? 

If you can have a rooster they'll add a lot to the entertainment factor.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

We have a total of 4 birds now. I don't mind to have an extra 1 or 2, but anymore than that, it gets too crowded for them. Plus... I want the eggs... Any idea what I can do if it's really a rooster? Like... separate coop or something like that?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No, unless he over breeds them he can live with them quite easily. Roosters are guardians for the girls, shares the good things he finds with them, and entertains the humans with some of goofy moves. 

What might happen though has more to do with his young age, you might have to remove him for a time while he matures more. Young roosters have hormones raging and can be quite a nuisance and aggravation to the girls until he matures more.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

robin416 said:


> No, unless he over breeds them he can live with them quite easily. Roosters are guardians for the girls, shares the good things he finds with them, and entertains the humans with some of goofy moves.
> 
> What might happen though has more to do with his young age, you might have to remove him for a time while he matures more. Young roosters have hormones raging and can be quite a nuisance and aggravation to the girls until he matures more.


Good info to keep in mind.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Oh, that is SO good to know!! So roosters won't automatically breed with the hens just because they are housed in the same space? We have guinea pigs and bunnies that need separate cages for boys and girls.... so I automatically assume that chickens are the same.

Then how do I know if any of the eggs are fertilized? I wouldn't want to eat any eggs that could become little chicks.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

So, the rooster will mate with the hens and fertilize the eggs. Unless the hen goes broody (which was bred out of a lot of egg production breeds) she won’t hatch out the chicks. You can take out the eggs and giver her ceramic eggs to sit on so nothing hatches. If she hasn’t been sitting on the eggs, there will be no chick development. I’ve heard some strict vegetarians feel that way about fertilized eggs but I don’t see it as a big deal personally and I’ve never been able to see a difference in taste or anything.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chicks1234 said:


> Oh, that is SO good to know!! So roosters won't automatically breed with the hens just because they are housed in the same space? We have guinea pigs and bunnies that need separate cages for boys and girls.... so I automatically assume that chickens are the same.
> 
> Then how do I know if any of the eggs are fertilized? I wouldn't want to eat any eggs that could become little chicks.


They will breed the hens. The only time it is a true problem is if he over breeds them which young roosters have a tendency to do. That's when they need to be removed until they mature a bit.

Or if you're lucky enough to have a hen like I did you could sic her on him for being less than a gentleman. I had one young male that would charge the females and scare the feathers off them. Then he wouldn't leave them alone.

I had this one hen. Knew who she was and didn't brook any bad behavior. I put her in with him, he charged her and she went after him. Pounded him in to the shavings then chased him into a corner. Everytime he thought the coast was clear he'd charge her again and she'd repeat the last lesson. Once she was done with him he learned aggressive breeding was not accepted.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

icic....

here are a few more pictures of this bird - just in case...


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

so... I have also this other chicken. It doesn't have any crown, but maybe this type doesn't have much crowns? It looks huge compared to the other chickens of the same age. Any chance I have another rooster in the house...?

Unfortunately I don't have any old hens yet. This is our first batch of chickens ever.

Does rooster really crows loudly every morning? Got to make sure my neighbors are cool with it...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Love that last pic. Entitle it, "what are you looking at?"

Yeah, it looks like the bunch are right. You have yourself a boy.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chicks1234 said:


> View attachment 33220
> so... I have also this other chicken. It doesn't have any crown, but maybe this type doesn't have much crowns? It looks huge compared to the other chickens of the same age. Any chance I have another rooster in the house...?
> 
> Unfortunately I don't have any old hens yet. This is our first batch of chickens ever.
> ...


I'm still learning about EE's so I'll leave it alone and let the others tell you. The fact it's comb (crown) is still pale could be a good sign it's female.

Oh yeah, they crow. My neighbor's one remaining game bird is a rooster, he starts his morning off everyday over here waiting on me to let the Guineas out. He's usually in competition with some roosters down the road by 5 or 5:30 in the morning.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Thank you all!! You all have been so helpful!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Thank you, we try. We want the keepers of the birds to have as pleasant of a time with them and that the birds have the best living arrangements they can have. Within reason.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Hi  yes this is a rooster, no doubt. To help clear up a few things. If a rooster breeds a hen there is a good chance that the egg is fertile but it's not 100%, especially with a young rooster. As far as eating a fertilized egg goes, something I learned a long time ago is that eggs are like glow sticks, in a glow stick there are 2 chemicals, the stick does not glow until the 2 chemicals are mixed together by bending the stick until it makes that crack noise. Same with eggs, (don't crack them to make them fertile...) in order to make a chick you need the egg, the sperm ( representing the 2 chemicals in a glow stick) and specific heat (the bending until it snaps). Without the heat (a hen sitting on the egg or putting the egg in an incubator) there is no chance of it becoming a chick ever. Just like a glow stick will never glow if you don't bend it. So if you collect the eggs every day, even if the rooster has had his fun with the hens, you will never have to worry about eating an egg that could be a chick. The egg is still TECHNICALLY fertilized but it cannot become a chick without the proper heat for the proper amount of time (as well as specific humidity etc but that's a conversation for another thread and time)


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Sylie, thanks for the explanation! that's very helpful to know!


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

robin416 said:


> I had this one hen. Knew who she was and didn't brook any bad behavior. I put her in with him, he charged her and she went after him. Pounded him in to the shavings then chased him into a corner. Everytime he thought the coast was clear he'd charge her again and she'd repeat the last lesson. Once she was done with him he learned aggressive breeding was not accepted.


 Every flock needs an ol' hen like this'


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

TomC said:


> Every flock needs an ol' hen like this'


He was the only one that was ever that bad that he needed to knocked down a few pegs. And the hen wasn't much more than a month older than him. It was her personality that said not in my house.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Hi guys, I was able to get some close-up picture of the tail feathers and it seems that they are quite rounded. Do young roosters have rounded feathers at the tail like these too?

I don't mean to second guess you guys, but perhaps my previous pictures didn't have a good angle... just in case....


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Don't worry about second guessing, I do it all of the time.

But I'm going to leave this one alone. You've definitely got me second guessing.


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

Yeah, I understand it's really hard with pictures.

So I suppose I will need to just wait and see... until it fully crowns and crows?


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

It's been about 2 months now, just want to give an update.

They're all laying eggs! So I guess it's a female afterall!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

So, the last bird you posted a pic of turned out to be a girl? 

I guess we're human after all. Some of them just toss us all sorts of challenges because they can. 

What did the EE turn out to be?


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## Chicks1234 (May 18, 2020)

I think they are Ameraucana. The eggs are light green. Super cute!  I'm suspecting that only 1 of the 2 has started laying eggs so far. So we'll see.


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