What gender are these? (Lots of pics)

[chameleon]

I got some Potchefstroom Koekoek chicks yesterday. They are about two weeks old, and I thought it was too early to sex them. I noticed some of them weren't barred as clearly as others, so I did some research and I found out that barred rocks can be sexed earlier. Wikipedia says that Koekoeks can be sexed at hatch, but doesn't specify how. As they are very similar to barred rocks I'm guessing they can be sexed in the same way. So now I'm curious and want to ask all you sexing experts what you think. Here goes:

Chick 1


Chick 2


Chick 3


Chick 4


Chick 5


Chick 6


Sorry for the blurs, they were behaving like popcorn this morning

 

[chameleon]

Sorry, just bumping this up because I posted it this morning (my morning) and realised it was midnight in the US so I haven't gotten any answers.

 

[Blackberry18]

Generally, Barred Rocks can be tentatively sexed three ways:

Shading on their Legs
- Females often have a dark shading on their legs (never used this before, so I'm not sure how accurate it is)

Amount of Barring
- When the feathers start to develop, males will have much more barring, but usually, this is when they are older and is almost always correct.

Size of the White Patch
- Most barred chicks will have a white spot on their head. Males' spots are oftentimes much larger than females

All of these sexing methods apply to MOST, but not all chicks, so they don't guarantee 100% accuracy. Also, not sure if Potchefstroom Koekoek chicks can be sexed the same way, but assuming they can, I'd say Chicks 1, 2, and 3 are females, and Chick 5 is a male. Not sure on the other two, getting mixed signals.

I recommend posting pictures once they've feathered out, you can tell by then with the barring on the feathers and the comb size. You can't be sure until Week 12 though.

Great photos, you're one of the few people who posts pictures that are "sexable".

 

[chameleon]

Generally, Barred Rocks can be tentatively sexed three ways:

Shading on their Legs
- Females often have a dark shading on their legs (never used this before, so I'm not sure how accurate it is)

Amount of Barring
- When the feathers start to develop, males will have much more barring, but usually, this is when they are older and is almost always correct.

Size of the White Patch
- Most barred chicks will have a white spot on their head. Males' spots are oftentimes much larger than females

All of these sexing methods apply to MOST, but not all chicks, so they don't guarantee 100% accuracy. Also, not sure if Potchefstroom Koekoek chicks can be sexed the same way, but assuming they can, I'd say Chicks 1, 2, and 3 are females, and Chick 5 is a male. Not sure on the other two, getting mixed signals.

I recommend posting pictures once they've feathered out, you can tell by then with the barring on the feathers and the comb size. You can't be sure until Week 12 though.

Great photos, you're one of the few people who posts pictures that are "sexable".

Thank you so much for taking the time to write that all out for me and take a guess. I'll definitely post some more pics once they've feathered in.

 

[drumstick diva]

Barred rock males will have wider white bands between the barring which is grayer than black. Females have narrow white bands and Black barring, usually a black wash over their legs.