7 months old - hen or rooster?

[ccoscina]

I have a 7 month old chicken that I still haven't figured out the gender of yet. At 7 months you would think I would know by now. This chicken has never crowed, not even once, and it also has barely any comb. So you would assume it is a hen. However, this chicken also has never laid a single egg. It has always struggled a bit and doesn't have the best genetics. I consider it to be my special needs child. It is by far the biggest chicken of my whole entire flock. It is also by far the lowest on the peck order - one time it became wounded from being pecked by the other girls so I kept it in my bedroom with me for a weak while it recovered. I have helped Speckles learn how to use perches so at least now it can hide when the girls bully her/him. The other chickens figured out how to use perches on their own but Speckles I had to train for a while, for a long time it would sleep on the floor and get pooped on at night. I also hand feed Speckles every day because the other chickens prevent it from getting food and water, they really bully Speckles. None of the other chickens have this problem, just Speckles.

So anyways, I thought it was a hen til now but the feathering and large size makes me wonder if I'm wrong. I had a couple roosters of the same breed which began crowing at 3 months, this one is almost 8 months and never crowed but never laid an egg. This chicken is a Buckeye, and also gets shiny green on the tail feathers which they say is usually a rooster trait.

Any thoughts?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

It is female.
What do you feed her?

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

I'm pretty sure that's a pullet.

 

[ccoscina]

It is female.
What do you feed her?

The same feed I give all of the other chickens. Their primary feed I mix together equal parts of three things:
1/3 natures best organic layer pellets
1/3 natures best organic layer crumbles
1/3 producers pride cracked corn

So basically 2/3 layer feed 1/3 cracked corn

I also feed them some scratch, oyster shell, mealworms, a little bit of grit, and various treats. During the summer I also give them fresh vegetables from the garden and I also give them food scraps from my kitchen (but I always research first to make sure what I give them is safe).

 

[swamphiker]

The same feed I give all of the other chickens. Their primary feed I mix together equal parts of three things:
1/3 natures best organic layer pellets
1/3 natures best organic layer crumbles
1/3 producers pride cracked corn

So basically 2/3 layer feed 1/3 cracked corn

I also feed them some scratch, oyster shell, mealworms, a little bit of grit, and various treats. During the summer I also give them fresh vegetables from the garden and I also give them food scraps from my kitchen (but I always research first to make sure what I give them is safe).

Cracked corn is junk food for chickens and should be given sparingly as a treat rather than mixing it in with the feed.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

The same feed I give all of the other chickens. Their primary feed I mix together equal parts of three things:
1/3 natures best organic layer pellets
1/3 natures best organic layer crumbles
1/3 producers pride cracked corn

So basically 2/3 layer feed 1/3 cracked corn

I also feed them some scratch, oyster shell, mealworms, a little bit of grit, and various treats. During the summer I also give them fresh vegetables from the garden and I also give them food scraps from my kitchen (but I always research first to make sure what I give them is safe).

I would start feeding them flock raiser with much less or no scratch.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

The same feed I give all of the other chickens. Their primary feed I mix together equal parts of three things:
1/3 natures best organic layer pellets
1/3 natures best organic layer crumbles
1/3 producers pride cracked corn

So basically 2/3 layer feed 1/3 cracked corn

I also feed them some scratch, oyster shell, mealworms, a little bit of grit, and various treats. During the summer I also give them fresh vegetables from the garden and I also give them food scraps from my kitchen (but I always research first to make sure what I give them is safe).

Oooh....no.
Bad bad bad.
That‘s what I am seeing.
I could tell something was not right with her nutrition...just from the photos.

Stop the cracked corn immediately. You are giving them way too much.
That is why she‘s not laying, I bet. Her nutrition is all unbalanced.

When you feed birds that much corn, they usually eat way less of everything else that actually contains nutrition. They become fat, and malnourished, at the same time.
It is like eating McDonalds every day, with a small amount of salad.

1/3 corn is way, way too much corn. So sorry to dump all this bludgeoning of their diet upon you, but that has to be changed.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Oooh....no.
Bad bad bad.
That‘s what I am seeing.
I could tell something was not right with her nutrition...just from the photos.

Stop the cracked corn immediately. You are giving them way too much.
That is why she‘s not laying, I bet. Her nutrition is all unbalanced.

When you feed birds that much corn, they usually eat way less of everything else that actually contains nutrition. They become fat, and malnourished, at the same time.
It is like eating McDonalds every day, with a small amount of salad.

1/3 corn is way, way too much corn. So sorry to dump all this bludgeoning of their diet upon you, but that has to be changed.

Only feed the layer pellets/crumbles. Treats like some scratch and worms and scraps are fine, so long as it is in moderation.
But to make corn a staple.....it messes up the nutrition and therefore the development of the birds.
She definitely looks mature enough to lay....but she is not, because she is probably overweight and slightly malnourished.
Fat birds never lay well.

 

[ccoscina]

All of the other chickens lay an egg every single day. Every single one of them. It is almost December and all the other chickens in the flock still lay an egg every single day. So the feed is not the issue or my other chickens wouldn't be egg laying champions. Cracked corn is also good for winter because it burns slowly and it produces alot of heat. Many old timers swear by cracked corn, some even feed their chickens nothing but cracked corn and scraps. Personally I think that is excessive and variety is important to any diet, so I limit it to 1/3 of the main feed. But I know that isn't why this chicken does not lay.

I suspect this chicken is a rooster. They say only Buckeye roosters get that shiny green on their tails. The tail feathers on Speckles look very different than the other chickens.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

All of the other chickens lay an egg every single day. Every single one of them. It is almost December and all the other chickens in the flock still lay an egg every single day. So the feed is not the issue or my other chickens wouldn't be egg laying champions. Cracked corn is also good for winter because it burns slowly and it produces alot of heat. Many old timers swear by cracked corn, some even feed their chickens nothing but cracked corn and scraps. Personally I think that is excessive and variety is important to any diet, so I limit it to 1/3 of the main feed. But I know that isn't why this chicken does not lay.

I suspect this chicken is a rooster. They say only Buckeye roosters get that shiny green on their tails. The tail feathers on Speckles look very different than the other chickens.

Cracked corn does have its benefits, but you are feeding them an insane amount. Personal opinions and facts are different things.

Sure, your birds like it. Sure, you like variety. But it is like giving them sticks of butter.
If you want to go swear by the old ways, find a time machine and go back to the 16th century or something. Everyone was misinformed there too.