Advice on Hen or Roo

[esdionne]

Hello All,

I am still new to chickens, (9 months). My first round of chickens I got at 12 and 20 weeks. This spring I purchased 6 chicks from our local Agway. All were suppose to be females but Sunday when I went to let them all out for the day, one of the little ones (8 weeks this Wednesday) crowed! Once I let them out, I watched to see which one it was.

3 of the chicks are black sexlinks and 3 are Americana's or EE's and it was one of the Americana's that crowed. He/she is black and white and is now forming some brown on her/his back and has some green in the tail feathers. The white one is also bigger than the other Americana's. I didn't have a picture of the 3 of them together for you to see but the other Americana's are gold, brown and black with no combs. Just wanted to say too that the comb is darker in color in person than in the photos.

I know that either way time will tell us for sure. Thanks for any help.

Here are some pictures:

 

[peeps704221]

It looks to me like a roo, he has a large comb and his tail feathers curl. I have 20 chickens and I have never heard any of the females crow. You also said that he has some green in his tail feathers, this is most common in males. Hope this helped! It is hard to sex chicks when they are young and expensive to double check, so it's a common mistake for hatcheries to sell a roo in the mix every once in a while. Is his comb larger than the others? If so he's most likely a male.

 

[esdionne]

Yes his comb is larger. The other two do not appear to have one. The black sexlinks all have small combs which 2 have a cream color and 1 has a black one.

 

[Michael OShay]

It's definitely a cockerel with a comb that bright red comb at 8 weeks. Pullets combs will not redden up like that until shortly before they begin laying. Also it has three rows of peas in the comb which is typical of male Easter Eggers. Female EEs only have a single row of peas in the comb.

 

[peeps704221]

yup! sounds like a cockerel!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Cockerel.

 

[esdionne]

Bummer! I know the hatcheries can't get them 100% right but I had to pay extra to make sure they were all hens. I guess now we have to watch him and his behavior to see if he will be a good rooster or a naughty one.

 

[teria]

Bummer! I know the hatcheries can't get them 100% right but I had to pay extra to make sure they were all hens. I guess now we have to watch him and his behavior to see if he will be a good rooster or a naughty one.

We had the same thing happen. We had gotten what the Cal Ranch labeled Americauna pullets, but, one was an EE hen, and the other an EE roo. He was very aggressive by 13 weeks old, and has gone to live on a large farm where he can run around and chase whatever he wants. In our backyard he was a terror. Hopefully, you will have better luck with your roo. That pea comb is a sure sign of an EE roo. Three rows in a pea comb = rooster.

 

[esdionne]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips! Lexi now known as Lenny has been crowing more and more each day. He is definitely a rooster!

We are making sure we all go in and continue to hand feed, handle, etc. to keep him on the calmer side. He is afraid of the older hens so he quickly comes and jumps on us for safety. Keeping our fingers crossed that he stays nice.

 

[Chicken Strut]

esdionne, search on this site for an article titled "Dealing with roosters - roo behavior" - some great advice there for rooster owners. BTW, Lenny is very handsome! Enjoy him!