10-week old Australorp, hen or roo?

[TheFrogLady]

Im sure he be fine with 4 hens xx

Thanks, that's reassuring. We're newbies (my husband finally won our 10-year-long "should we get chickens" debate! ) so we're nervous about the idea of a rooster. I'll take all the reassurance I can get!

 

[Dalylah]

I can’t say, my black Australorp who has almost started laying looked like your chicken at about 13 weeks so it’s hard to say.

 

[khloee]

You guys were supposed to say "you silly newbie, you're panicking: everything's fine."

We'll have to find him a new home, I guess. From what I've been reading, there's no way to keep him around with only 4 hens, right? It's a shame--he's such a sweetheart, and he's our favorite. He follows my husband around everywhere when he's doing the yard work.

you can keep a rooster with four hens. As long as he is not aggressive towards you or the other hens then it should be fine.

 

[getaclue]

You can easily keep a rooster with 4 hens, however, you WILL need to pen him up when the hens get bare backed. That means, a couple months, about 2 times a year.

 

[TheFrogLady]

I can’t say, my black Australorp who has almost started laying looked like your chicken at about 13 weeks so it’s hard to say.

That's what we had been hoping, that maybe she was just an early bloomer or a fast grower. Ours looks a lot like the Australorp hen picture on the hatchery's website, but he/she's still so young.

Did yours have the long tail feathers, too?

 

[Dalylah]

That's what we had been hoping, that maybe she was just an early bloomer or a fast grower. Ours looks a lot like the Australorp hen picture on the hatchery's website, but he/she's still so young.

Did yours have the long tail feathers, too?

This is my hen at 13 weeks so I don’t know it’s hard to say, but mine are pretty long so maybe

 

[Dalylah]

That's what we had been hoping, that maybe she was just an early bloomer or a fast grower. Ours looks a lot like the Australorp hen picture on the hatchery's website, but he/she's still so young.

Did yours have the long tail feathers, too?

And your chicken looks like it’s already got green, my chicken is now 16 weeks and still is not getting the green but maybe yours is just a very early bloomer.

 

[TheFrogLady]

And your chicken looks like it’s already got green, my chicken is now 16 weeks and still is not getting the green but maybe yours is just a very early bloomer.

I'm wondering if mine is a few days older than the other 4 we got, too. She feathered out first and seemed a bit more alert early on. When I made my initial order, there were no Australorps available. When we decided to add an extra chick onto the order a few weeks later there were 2 Australorps left for our hatch date. Seemed like kind of an odd situation, to suddenly have 2 lone chicks available when every other breed in stock had at least 30 or 40.

But you've given me hope! Thank you!

 

[TheFrogLady]

Update: In just two weeks' time, he started crowing regularly and the saddle feathers became very prominent with a striking green sheen.

Despite everyone's reassurances on this thread, my husband and I decided to post him on the "Rehome a Rooster" thread. We were still concerned that we weren't prepared to handle a rooster since this is our first time keeping chickens. Thankfully, a BYC poster who lives just down the road has a rooster bachelor pad/rescue, and she took him in. Her young kids seem to have really taken to him, so it all worked out very well for everyone involved.

Thanks to everyone who helped me determine that he was, in fact, a rooster. We really appreciate your help!

 

[ansmith1999]

cockerel!