A hen or a cockerel? 8 days shy from its 6-month birthday. Other hens of its age already started laying eggs from month 5. I'm worried. Help!!

[Rose Quartz]

@LaFleche what male feathering are you referring to? My eyes can't see everything in a picture, but the saddles look rounded to me.
At OP the feathers in front of the tail on a hen are rounded, but on a cockeral would be pointed. The shine on the tail can be on a pullet ot cockeral.

The hackle feathers are very pointed around the bottom.

I've seen slower developing roosters look like this before. 6 months is a really long time, but i've seen one look the same way at a year, it never developed properly and never crowed.

 

[Party_Chicken]

At first glance I was going to say hen but I saw its feathers and those are shiny but they don’t point like normal rooster feathers. Wait a few more weeks to see if it crows then update us

 

[LaFleche]

@LaFleche what male feathering are you referring to? My eyes can't see everything in a picture, but the saddles look rounded to me.
At OP the feathers in front of the tail on a hen are rounded, but on a cockeral would be pointed. The shine on the tail can be on a pullet ot cockeral.

I marked the areas in red:

His male saddle feathers just started to grow in, soon they will be much longer and easier to spot.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

@Shady77 , do you have an update on your bird? To my eye, at the time you posted your photos back in April, it showed both male and female traits, which other members have already pointed out. Any obviously male saddle feathers yet? Is she laying or crowing? Though intersex and gynandromorph birds are rare, possible representations of the above appear on BYC several times every year, even if not usually recognized as such.

 

[Shady77]

@Shady77 , do you have an update on your bird? To my eye, at the time you posted your photos back in April, it showed both male and female traits, which other members have already pointed out. Any obviously male saddle feathers yet? Is she laying or crowing? Though intersex and gynandromorph birds are rare, possible representations of the above appear on BYC several times every year, even if not usually recognized as such.

I regret to inform you that the chicken you're asking about is no longer in this world. One terrible night when I was partying with my friends, and I forgot to lock the coop's door, I suspect a feral dog, may have killed our chicken because of my mistake. It still hurts how that chicken left us.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I regret to inform you that the chicken you're asking about is no longer in this world. One terrible night when I was partying with my friends, and I forgot to lock the coop's door, I suspect a feral dog, may have killed our chicken because of my mistake. It still hurts how that chicken left us.

I'm really sorry.