Barred rock hens or roosters?

[a_harrison9]

Hi! I am new to chickens. I just hatched my very first batch of chicks ever in an incubator. They are barred rock chicks. They are nearing 2 weeks old. I am going to attach pictures of the parents. The dad is very white colored. Could someone tell me if they think these are hens or roosters? I am aware that the barred rock roosters will be lighter than the females, but I was wondering if he might make some of the hens a little lighter as well?

Here is the dad

Here is one of the moms lol.

Chick 1:

Chick 2:

chick 3:

Chick 4:

Chick 5:

Chick 6:

Chick 7:

 

[labelo]

Your rooster being very light colored is probably because he's double-barred (meaning, he has two copies of the barred gene, as is expected for a male barred rock; it's a sex-linked gene and females can only have one copy). I wouldn't expect that to affect his chicks--males should be overall lighter than the females. This is easiest to determine right at hatch (I think an experienced eye can also tell based on the size/shape of the headspot), and I'm not experienced enough with barred rocks to make any calls on your chicks, but maybe someone else can chime in!

 

[JedJackson]

These are a bit confusing. I'm not sure that the father was a barred rock but maybe a cuckoo Marans instead. He seems to have white legs, which wouldn't be right for a barred rock. Or it could just be the photo.

There are three things to look at with young barred rocks.

1- Head spots. Male barred rocks should have head spots that are fuzzier in color at the edge while females have have crisper color separation. But your chicks don't see to follow this rule, for whatever reason.

2- Plumage color. Males will be overall lighter because the white bars are wider. Females will be overall darker.

3- Leg color. Males should have pure yellow legs, females usually have yellow legs with a green wash over them.

In this case, I'm going to use option 2.

Chick 1, male.

Chicks 2 and 4, females.

The rest need more time. When they feather out more it should be easier to get a grasp on coloring. By 6 weeks you should be able to tell males from females by comb development.

Sorry I can't be more definite than that.