Barred Plymouth Rock - cockerel?

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I just had a rooster I had to rehome because he chased my kids and don’t want to deal with that again.

That's horrible, I'm sorry. I do hope that never happens again.
I'm not sure why that happens, but seems a lot of people have problems with roosters becoming human aggressive.
Personally, I've been around dozens of roosters (various breeds and mixes) and we just must not have aggressive ones because to my knowledge, there has only been 1 that became human aggressive here. And I distinctly remember he was a good rooster, until one day some horribly irresponsible people came over and let their kids run around the farm and terrorize everything, including the chickens.
The rooster very quickly was gone. (He likely became soup. I was like 4. I recall I was angry and didn't understand why people would visit our farm and scare animals. I knew we couldn't keep a dangerous animal, but also knew why he turned dangerous.)

 

[Chescochickens]

That's horrible, I'm sorry. I do hope that never happens again.
I'm not sure why that happens, but seems a lot of people have problems with roosters becoming human aggressive.
Personally, I've been around dozens of roosters (various breeds and mixes) and we just must not have aggressive ones because to my knowledge, there has only been 1 that became human aggressive here. And I distinctly remember he was a good rooster, until one day some horribly irresponsible people came over and let their kids run around the farm and terrorize everything, including the chickens.
The rooster very quickly was gone. (He likely became soup. I was like 4. I recall I was angry and didn't understand why people would visit our farm and scare animals. I knew we couldn't keep a dangerous animal, but also knew why he turned dangerous.)

My daughter was definitely part of the problem. The hens were hers before they were his and she likes to handle them and he was not happy about that. He started to randomly run at her and I understood that he was being territorial but then he came at me for no reason and I tried working with it but became too fearful that he could hurt someone. He was my first rooster and I didn’t want to risk anything with my kids. Maybe with more experience, I would know how to manage the behavior better.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Maybe with more experience, I would know how to manage the behavior better.

Sometimes there's just nothing you can do.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

My daughter was definitely part of the problem. The hens were hers before they were his and she likes to handle them and he was not happy about that. He started to randomly run at her and I understood that he was being territorial but then he came at me for no reason and I tried working with it but became too fearful that he could hurt someone. He was my first rooster and I didn’t want to risk anything with my kids. Maybe with more experience, I would know how to manage the behavior better.

I'm not that familiar with the rooster thought process, so I'm not sure if that would or wouldn't contribute to most roosters behaving that way (if somebody was just handling a hen who wasn't distressed)

We're mostly hands off with ours, unless we need to pick them up or catch them. So perhaps that's a factor, or perhaps not.

 

[Chocolate Silkie Queen]

So is the white dot as chicks actually mean anything? If that’s the case I think I definitely picked a male! I will get pictures in the morning he’s still very young

 

[C Siena]

My rock pullet scared me the same way

Ditto.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So is the white dot as chicks actually mean anything? If that’s the case I think I definitely picked a male! I will get pictures in the morning he’s still very young

A very LARGE white spot in baby chicks usually indicates cockerel, but pullets can have a white dot too, just usually not as big. I should say, this is my understnding. See what others say.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

So is the white dot as chicks actually mean anything? If that’s the case I think I definitely picked a male! I will get pictures in the morning he’s still very young

So barring can be a little confusing.

With a barred (or cuckoo) patterned bird, a white/yellow spot on the top of the head of newborn chicks indicates that the chick is barred. The barring will become obvious after a few weeks.

Males can have up to 2 copies of the barring gene (can inherit one from each parent)
Females can have up to 1 copy (can only inherit from her father)

I'll specifically talk about "Black Sex Link" (BSL) and "Barred Plymouth Rock" (BR for Barred Rock)

BSL is a barred hen crossed with a non-barred rooster. The hen will only pass barring onto her sons. So they get 1 copy of the bar gene (white spot on head). Since the rooster-dad isn't barred, he doesn't pass on any bar gene. So, daughters are not barred.
As soon as the chicks hatch, you can tell cockerels with the white dot from pullets without any dot on their head. It's 100%. Plus, as they grow, all the males will be barred, and none of the females will be.

Now, for Barred Rocks.
Both hens and roosters are barred. Males have 2 bar genes (one from each parent) and females have 1 (only from her dad).
The one with more white on the head is male. Because he got 2 copies. But, it can be difficult to tell.
As the birds grow, the barring (white/silver stripes) on the males will be... more crisp, white, noticeable. Because they have 2 copies.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So barring can be a little confusing.

With a barred (or cuckoo) patterned bird, a white/yellow spot on the top of the head of newborn chicks indicates that the chick is barred. The barring will become obvious after a few weeks.

Males can have up to 2 copies of the barring gene (can inherit one from each parent)
Females can have up to 1 copy (can only inherit from her father)

I'll specifically talk about "Black Sex Link" (BSL) and "Barred Plymouth Rock" (BR for Barred Rock)

BSL is a barred hen crossed with a non-barred rooster. The hen will only pass barring onto her sons. So they get 1 copy of the bar gene (white spot on head). Since the rooster-dad isn't barred, he doesn't pass on any bar gene. So, daughters are not barred.
As soon as the chicks hatch, you can tell cockerels with the white dot from pullets without any dot on their head. It's 100%. Plus, as they grow, all the males will be barred, and none of the females will be.

Now, for Barred Rocks.
Both hens and roosters are barred. Males have 2 bar genes (one from each parent) and females have 1 (only from her dad).
The one with more white on the head is male. Because he got 2 copies. But, it can be difficult to tell.
As the birds grow, the barring (white/silver stripes) on the males will be... more crisp, white, noticeable. Because they have 2 copies.

Thanks, Slick, that really helps!

 

[Chocolate Silkie Queen]

Mines still little so the barring isn’t the best or TS has tricked me! I normally don’t buy from there (I do from Rural King or breeders around me) but BPR (Barred Plymouth Rocks) are so hard to find around me this year! I got two but only one has survived along with my Australorp which is supposed to be female but my BR was straight run. I picked it cause it had the most white on its head but it also blended in so well so it wasn’t a “dramatic” white dot like the others. Here are pictures!

I’m really hoping it’s a female but if it is a male I guess I’ll start a bachelor pad