Updated September 26, 2026. This page used to say Rhode Island Red hens don’t crow, that cockerels start crowing at four to six weeks, and that chicks are grown in six to eight weeks. None of that holds up. I’ve rewritten it around what the extension services and the hatcheries that breed these birds actually say, and I’ve cut the parts that had nothing to do with telling a rooster from a hen.
The short answer: a grown Rhode Island Red rooster is the bigger bird, about 8.5 pounds to a hen’s 6.5 by McMurray Hatchery’s figures, with a larger, redder comb and wattles, long pointed feathers on his neck and in front of his tail, and curved sickle feathers in the tail. On a young bird the comb is the first hint, from about 4 to 6 weeks. The saddle feathers settle it, and on most birds you can see them clearly by 18 weeks.
When you can tell, week by week
Most of what people swear by is real. It just shows up later than they’d like, and the feed store chicks in the brooder don’t care how impatient you are.
- At hatch: the University of Kentucky says Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire chicks “can be sexed by wing color at hatching. Male chicks have a white spot on the down over the wing web.” It adds, in the same breath, that “there is considerable normal variation in the size of the spot, so sexing in this way is not always accurate.” Treat it as a guess, and it’s gone once the down is replaced by feathers.
- From 4 to 6 weeks: the comb and wattles. Mississippi State Extension: “In males, the combs and wattles will become larger than those on females and the head will become more angular and masculine looking.” Compare each bird with its own hatch-mates. One red comb in a row of pale ones means something. One red comb on its own doesn’t.
- From about 10 to 18 weeks: the feathers. Kentucky: “The males have longer, more pointed, and narrower hackle feathers (located on the neck).” And the one that settles it: “only the males have saddle feathers.” Meyer Hatchery says it can “barely begin to see” the hackles and saddles at 10 to 12 weeks, and a bird it was unsure about at 14 weeks “clearly shows the hackles and saddles” at 18.
That’s the whole trick. Nothing about a Red’s personality or the way it stands at three weeks will tell you more than those three things. If you want to put your own bird’s age and what you’re seeing through it, the hen or rooster checker on this site does exactly that and tells you how far to trust each sign.
Crowing, and the hen that crows
Crowing is the sign everybody waits for, and it’s a strong one. Kentucky: “The males switch from chirping, which is common to all chicks, to attempting to crow.” Nobody I trust publishes a week when a Red starts, so I won’t give you one. The first crows are rough, and they come when they come.
The old version of this page said hens don’t crow. They can. Meyer Hatchery: “A hen can mimic a rooster’s crowing, especially if there is not a rooster present and a dominant hen decides she will be the flock leader.” If a Red crows at you and has no saddle feathers at 18 weeks, believe the feathers.
Grown up: what’s actually different
Size. McMurray Hatchery lists a Rhode Island Red hen at 6.5 pounds and a rooster at 8.5. The Livestock Conservancy says the hens “weigh over 6 pounds and the roosters over 8 pounds.” Pick one up of each and you won’t need a scale.
Feathers. The rooster has the long, shiny hackles on his neck, the saddle feathers draped in front of his tail and the curved sickles on top of it. A hen’s neck feathers are short and rounded, and her tail is plainer.
Temper. Here’s the honest part. The Livestock Conservancy, which keeps track of the old breeds: “Some roosters may be aggressive at times. Most hens are peaceful.” The hatcheries describe the breed in kinder words. Meyer says friendly and calm, and Cackle says active. That’s the breed as a whole, and mostly the hens. My own rooster isn’t a Red, and he still goes for my boots every morning I’m in the run, so I don’t take a catalog’s word on any rooster.
What the hen does that he doesn’t
She lays, and a Red lays well. The hatcheries don’t agree on how well, so here’s each one’s number:
- McMurray Hatchery: an average of 238 eggs a year.
- Cackle Hatchery: 200 to 280 a year, a figure Cackle itself calls an estimate.
- Meyer Hatchery: 4 to 6 eggs a week, starting at 16 to 20 weeks.
- The Livestock Conservancy: 200 to 300 a year, “starting as early as six months of age.”
They don’t agree on broodiness either. McMurray calls Reds “not at all likely” to go broody, Cackle says “variable”, and the Conservancy says hens “can become broody except within the strains that have been heavily selected for egg production.” Where your birds came from matters more than the breed name on the box.
She doesn’t need him to lay. A hen lays with no rooster in the flock. He only matters if you want fertile eggs to hatch. I wrote more about laying without a rooster if that’s the decision you’re making.
Bought as pullets and one is crowing?
It happens, and it’s within the rules. Hatcheries sex chicks by hand at a day old, and Murray McMurray Hatchery puts its promise in writing: “We guarantee 90% accuracy on all sexed poultry.” So in a box of ten “pullets,” one cockerel is still inside the guarantee. McMurray’s own promise for a bird it got wrong is to “refund your money, replace your birds, or credit your account,” so it’s worth a call to whoever sold you yours.
Sources
- poultry.extension.org: Sexing Day-Old Chicks (Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky): the wing-web spot and how far to trust it; hackle and saddle feathers; crowing.
- Mississippi State University Extension: Sexing of day-old chicks: combs and wattles, usually readable after 4 to 6 weeks.
- Meyer Hatchery: What to Look for in Determining Gender in Young Chickens (March 2018): feathers at 10 to 18 weeks; hens that crow.
- Murray McMurray Hatchery: Rhode Island Reds: weights, 238 eggs a year, broodiness; and its 90% sexing guarantee.
- Meyer Hatchery: Rhode Island Red and Cackle Hatchery: Rhode Island Reds: eggs, laying age, temperament.
- The Livestock Conservancy: Rhode Island Red: weights, temperament, laying and broodiness.
Sources checked September 26, 2026. I keep chickens; I’m not a veterinarian.
Related read: How to Raise Chickens for Eggs — Instant PDF download. Secure checkout by Stripe
