Hens or Roosters? I'm not sure.

[DEBlues]

So, as I stated in my introduction thread, I'm new to chickens. So I have all these chickens, and I only really want four hens. Possibly one rooster.

When these chicks were dropped off to me I was told the breeds were Delaware Blue, Plymouth Rock (barred), Rhode Island Red, Araucana and White Crested Black Polish. All the WCB Polish have gone to new homes, and they were obvious, so that takes care of them.

As previously stated, these chicks came from the University of Delaware. U of D bred them. I know they keep certain breeds for their Animal Science classes to test student made feeds on, they keep certain breeds for the Animal Science classes to raise for meat purposes, and they keep certain breeds to cross with their Delaware Blue flock in their quest to re-create the perfect Delaware Blue from the original flock preserved by the DuPonts.

So, I had a couple of chickens that *thought* were Barred Plymouth Rocks. Then I went up to UofD's Ag Day a couple of weeks ago. They had a pair of each of these: Delaware Blue, WCB Polish, Wyandotte x Barred Plymouth Rock, and Araucana.

Okay, so here's my confusion. One of what I had been told is a barred Plymouth Rock looks like a barred Plymouth Rock in coloration. The other does not. This chicken is black with faint white spots. I thought this spotted chicken was a hen because she lacked a spiky comb until I saw the Wyandotte crosses, checked out Wyandottes, and realized their combs aren't spiky like the other chickens. Argh! So now I'm not sure she's a she. She might be a he, flat comb and all.

Also. UofD has these Araucanas.. but I don't think they *are* Araucanas. I hesitate to say that because these are college professors breeding these things and I've had chickens for all of one month but.. these birds have tails. I thought Araucanas weren't supposed to have tails. They don't look like any picture of any pure Araucanas I've found. What they *do* look like is Americauanas, or whatever those crosses are called.

So I have a bunch of pictures to be sharing with ya'll. As soon as I take any good ones. All the pics I have are not great for ID purposes, but it is hard to take pictures of a squirming chicken with one hand.

But now you're familiar with my questions and confusion. Pictures to follow.

 

[DEBlues]

Okay so first up, here is a Delaware Blue. It is from the second, younger group. I had originally thought this bird was a hen. Then I put her in with a couple of days ago with the group of chickens I may keep, and my other Delaware Blue rooster (my profile avatar), attacked it. I mean really attacked it. I had not ever seen him do anything like this before, he is usually pretty laid back for a bird known as a "fighting blue hen," but when he saw this bird, he grabbed it by the back of the neck and threw it on the ground. Twice. Whereupon it got up and ran and hid behind one of the much larger birds, and Flacco (the rooster) lost sight of it and forgot about it for the moment. Every once in awhile he would see it again and attack it again, usually losing interest pretty quickly.
He doesn't do that even with the other larger RIR roosters. It's like he took one look at this bird and was all, "RAGE HATE" and won't give it up. This little bird never gave him any provocation that I could see. Do roosters ever just attack hens like that, or must this bird be a rooster?

I had thought for sure it was a hen because


this white bird is also a Delaware Blue in the "splash" coloration, from the same age group. His comb is much larger, much redder, and he does more aggressive things. He does not get attacked by Flacco. Flacco could care less about him.

Is this weird, or what? Am I wrong about who is a hen and who is a rooster in this picture?

 

[DEBlues]

Flacco is King of Everything He Sees.



Pretty sure he is 100% Blue Roo. And he knows it. He has been acting like a rooster since he was 2 and a half weeks old:

 

[DEBlues]

Here we have a picture of chickens in the outside pen over the weekend. The Plymouth Rock that looks barred is front and center. Flacco is the Delaware Blue rooster on the right behind the Plymouth Rock (x Wyandotte?) and on his left is the oldest "Araucana." Note the tail.

 

[DEBlues]

Closer head shot (sort of) of the same "Araucana" pictured in the group shot. Flacco watching intently in the background.



Same bird.



Same bird, with the "Plymouth Rock" that is spotted in the background. These two are the biggest birds I have, they came with the first group but always seemed a tad older. The "spotted Plymouth Rock" is huge, very calm, and very very docile. Unless someone gets in her face. Then she usually stands on the offending bird.

 

[donrae]

Your first two pics are both roosters. Flacco is a rooster. Your "barred rocks" are colored like a male and a female, the male being the lighter of the two. I can't see the combs well, but are they rose combs? In that case, they'd be Dominiques, male and female. If they're rocks mixed with Wyandotte, you can't sex them by color unless you know for sure the hen was barred, in which case they'd be sex linked and both males. Your "aracauna" looks to be an easter egger cockerel. Lots of boys there, sorry.

 

[DEBlues]

Your first two pics are both roosters. Flacco is a rooster. Your "barred rocks" are colored like a male and a female, the male being the lighter of the two. I can't see the combs well, but are they rose combs? In that case, they'd be Dominiques, male and female. If they're rocks mixed with Wyandotte, you can't sex them by color unless you know for sure the hen was barred, in which case they'd be sex linked and both males. Your "aracauna" looks to be an easter egger cockerel. Lots of boys there, sorry.

So, the two Blues that you called as roosters are roosters. The "barred rocks" (we now jokingly call them our Plymouth Dots) are still a mystery. We gave the lighter one away, so I don't know how that one turned out. They all look exactly alike except for the combs. The two smaller chickens that have the regular combs are still small, with small single combs. The gigantic chicken has.. an I don't even know what. It's just a flat space of nothing but wrinkled, red skin on it's head. It is not in any way puffy, it doesn't stick up in any way. I have no idea what you'd call it. I looked up pictures on the web, I bought a book, I still can't figure it out. It almost looks like a cushion comb, if a cushion comb was flat and parted in the middle.

So we still have no idea out of those three. They are mystery chickens.

 

[DEBlues]

Still not sure if these are hens or roosters.. Pictured above is one of the smaller mystery chickens with the single comb.





And this is the gigantic mystery chicken with the comb I can't identify.

Any suggestions? The feathers are looking more barred today, we noticed, and less spangled.