# Please help sexing my Plymouth Rock



## Baisleychicken

Hi,

Can anyone help sexing my 11 week old Plymouth Rock?

Thx!

Richard


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## Apyl

Boy, he's got light colored leggs and his barring is light in color. Barred Rock are a sex link breed.


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## ladycat

It's a boy.



Apyl said:


> Boy, he's got light colored leggs and his barring is light in color. Barred Rock are a sex link breed.


Not sexlinked, but they can produce sexlinks.

The barring is on the X chromosome. The male is XX and the female is XY.

That means the male can have 2 barred genes. He's lighter in color.

Females can only have one barred gene because she only has one X. So she is much darker.

A barred male that has resulted from a cross between a barred and non-barred parents will have one barred gene and will be dark.

The youngster in the picture is light-colored, so he has 2 barred genes. Therefore he is a male.


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## Apyl

ladycat said:


> It's a boy.
> 
> Not sexlinked, but they can produce sexlinks.
> 
> The barring is on the X chromosome. The male is XX and the female is XY.
> 
> That means the male can have 2 barred genes. He's lighter in color.
> 
> Females can only have one barred gene because she only has one X. So she is much darker.
> 
> *A barred male that has resulted from a cross between a barred and non-barred parents will have one barred gene and will be dark.*
> 
> The youngster in the picture is light-colored, so he has 2 barred genes. Therefore he is a male.


Exactly as long as its pure bred , which I am assuming the pic posted is off a pure bred since the OP did not state it came from different parents, then the boy is going to be light in color. IF it was a mixed like you mentioned from a non barred father then yes the color would be affected. I used the term sex link to describe the fact that the male versus female can be determined by appearances at this age. As for being sexlink at birth, not so much. But in many cases the barred rock can be sexed at birth by the white spot on its head. I was just trying to make a point that the colors are what tell me the sex.


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## billybobaz

Is there a reliable sexing method for mixed breed chickens? The rooster was a bantam overachiever and most of the hens are full sized.


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## Fiere

Other than vent sexing, which is an art as much as it is a science, no.

Some methods are sure fire depending on the type of comb or parents the peep has, other times you need a combination of methods. Still again, once the peep is 12 weeks old it will have sex feathers growing in which removes all doubt about what sex it is or isn't.


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## chickenhen

He looks like a cockrol (boy) to me from his light colored feathers and larger comb.


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## WeeLittleChicken

I'm going to go with boy... because of all that white...


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## chickenhen

Ok that's a good idea


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