3 Week old chick with orangish crown

[TheChips]

Hello everyone, This is my first year in raising chickens so I do apologize in advance if this is a "noob" question.

I have 5 (3 wk old) Cochin chicks. 1 partridge, 1 black and 3 white/black. One of the white/black chicks has a crown that is an orange-ish color. All the other ones have the normal skin colored crowns. I had read in my book that once they get a little older thats when their crowns turn red.

My question is, is it too soon for a chick to have this colored crown?

Ive also noticed that one of them is making a screeching sound as if its trying to crow. Only one of them does it which Ive been trying to pinpoint which chick. I know its one of the white/black ones. It can be the one with the red crown but Im not sure because I am not right there when he/she makes that sound. Is this a normal behavior in chicks? I have 3 (7 week old) Isa Browns and when they were smaller they didnt make that sort of sound.

So actually this is two questions. Thanks to those who take the time out to read this! Your advice is much appreciated!

 

[Kelsie2290]

The crowns/combs on the boys will often start getting bigger and pink/red/orange before the girls. If you have a five week old chick with a comb that is noticeably larger/pinker than its same breed hatchmates, there is a good chance that it is a boy. Males will start to crow as early as a month old, so it sounds like you have at least one baby cockerel in your new bunch. ISA Browns are sex links where you can tell the sex at hatch (the girls are reddish) so it would be almost impossible to wind up with a male ISA Brown accidentally.

 

[BantamLover21]

Roosters (called cockerels when they're young) often develop orange/red combs earlier than female chicks. They may show these redder combs at an early age (2-4 weeks), or take longer. If one of your chicks has a larger, redder comb than the others at this point, its most likely a cockerel. However, if you want to be sure of this, I'd post some photos of your chicks in the What Breed or Gender Is This? section of the BYC forum. People there will try their best to help sex your chicks.

The screeching noise is a first attempt at crowing. Most cockerels sound awful when they first begin to crow, so don't be alarmed at the noise. As they mature, they'll develop a more rooster-like crow. As Kelsie2290 mentioned, the crower is probably not one of your Isa Browns, as they are a sex-linked breeds (this means that males are one color, and females are another color).

 

[TheChips]

Ah, well it all makes much more sense now thank you!

I was worried the screeching was due to one of them having stomach problems. Thank you both for helping me out its much appreciated!