11wk Buff Orpington sickle feathers?

[AliceSaurus]

Question for buff orpington owners: This is my 11 week old "girl" going through her second juvenile molt and the tail feathers are making me think she may be a rooster. Her comb and wattles are a bit bigger and redder than the other's but not enough to be a giveaway. The hackles don't look pointy to me but I'm new at this. So do you all think "she" is just having a molt and will grow more tail feathers? Or are those very obviously sickle feathers? When she fanned out her tail earlier it looked more like a hen's does but I'm still confused. I will probably be guessing til I hear a crow or see an egg. Is it normal for roosters to make sort of regular sounds before trying to crow? Because I definitely heard and saw this one making noise the other day but it wasn't a crow at all. I haven't noticed any rooster behaviors, but that tail is crazy!

 

[AmishThunder]

They make very strange noises when they are first learning to crow - squeaks and groans and gurgles and burps ect. Sometimes hens will crow if there is no rooster around. The tail feathers look like a rooster but I cant tell with the hackle feathers. Lift up the feathers on its back and look for shiny, pointy saddle feathers coming in. If it has those then I would say its a rooster.

 

[Wyandottes7]

That bird look like a pullet to me.

 

[Basskids08]

That bird look like a pullet to me.

X2 pullet!

 

[AliceSaurus]

Thank you! I have always felt she is a pullet, too, until those long feathers showed up. I'm optimistic she'll feather out nicely and just be a big girl

 

[Kasey]

Looks pretty pullety to me!

 

[BantamLover21]

Pullet for now, but I am not 100% sure.

 

[AliceSaurus]

Here's the same bird at 21 weeks old... looking like a rooster but acting like a hen :/

 

[tunes]

Just curious.....hen or roo? I've been obsessively reading these threads trying to find out if my "girls" are really girls or not.

 

[MariskaKilian]

I'm also saying Hen on those first picks.