Afraid we have 2 RIR Roosters

[adamaschun]

Hi all, I just posted in the introductions thread. Long story short, my in-laws bought my son 2 Rhode Island Red chicks in April. The chicks were kept at my FIL's house until one chick died and we discovered he was keeping the other on in a 2X 2 cube with no shelter. My husband built the poor thing a coop at our house and we brought it here last Friday. The next day my MIL decided it was a hen and we needed a rooster. Well, our original chicken (who my son calls Betsy) is scared to death of the rooster. "Betsy" is about 5 months old, and the rooster is supposedly 8 months old. "Betsy" does not crow and has not laid an egg, but is looking more rooster-like every day.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We can't continue to keep them together if they are both roosters, can we?

Pictures of "Betsy":

 

[Happy Chooks]

Betsy is a rooster.

 

[kentuckysilkies]

Two roosters

 

[okiehen]

You have roosters.

 

[adamaschun]

Thanks y'all. That's what I thought, though I feel like a dummy for not being able to tell a hen from a rooster. Betsy is now named Bugsy and we're trying to find a home for the other rooster, Buster.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
Do NOT feel this way at all! I know people who have had chickens for years and still cannot tell.

One way to tell a cockerel/roo from a pullet/hen are the saddle feathers. Saddle feathers are located just in front of the tail on the bird's back.

A girl will have fat round feathers - not much longer than her other feathers.

A boy, as he matures ( generally between 10 to 16 weeks) will start growing narrow, long pointy feathers (to me looks similar to long hair) - these feathers will eventually grow many inches and cover the wing tips.


this is a pullet:

This is her brother - see his saddle feathers vs. his sister - his are long, stringy and already flow past his wing tips?

 

[adamaschun]

Thank you very much! I am a dog person, and showed Bichon Frises for 4 years. The dog industry is much less friendly sometimes (though it is quite easier to tell a grump from a dog

). I'm feeling much more at home with chickens.


*edit* aww, it changed the word for female dog to "grump". That makes me laugh a lot.

 

[juliechick]

Quote:
That's funny. I was wondering why I had never heard the term "grump" before for a female dog.

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
X2