16 Month Old Roo?

[polliwogchick]

I have a 16 month old white Orpington that's given no indication that it was a rooster . . . until several weeks ago. At that point, the "hen" has become very "ungentlemanly" toward the other hens. There is no crowing whatsoever, but there is plenty of mating behavior all of a sudden. Is this even possible at this late point? Or could it be something else? Don't all roosters crow? This one definitely has a different look in the eyes and a different demeanor . . . but I've never actually caught him/her laying an egg and I can't catch it to get a good look and check its feathers. The same flock (I got them as day-old) DID have 3 other roosters, but they exhibited evidence within a couple months. This one has shown absolutely no signs . . . until the obvious ones several weeks ago. Is this even possible to be SUCH a late bloomer??

 

[polliwogchick]

I should add, that the other roosters were re-homed, so this one would be the only rooster . . . that I know of!

 

[donrae]

do you have a current picture?

 

[polliwogchick]

I just took these this morning. He/she gives me the evil eye everytime I'm in the chicken yard and if he/she happens to see me talking to one of the other chickens, he/she comes RUNNING to keep an eye out. This is all of a sudden in the past few weeks.

II

 

[donrae]

that's a hen. My first thought is she has some hormonal imbalance that's kicked up recently. You can try isolating her and seeing if she's laying. I don't know if you'd want to keep a non-producing bird, that's an individual management decision.

 

[junebuggena]

Mounting is not always a mating behavior. Dominant hens will mount lower ranking hens, to reinforce their position in the flock. It's normal.
And that's a girl. She doesn't have any male feathering at all.

 

[polliwogchick]

Thank you so much.

I just didn't really want to deal with a rooster if that's what I was seeing.