Almost 5 week old Australorp...almost sure it's female...ALMOST!

[rumblebug00]

Hey there! I've got a 4+ week old australorp in my group of lady-birds and wondered if she could in fact be a he. She's been the nicest from the get-go although has become slightly standoffish that last week or so. Her tail feathers tend to splay upwards instead of fan out like the other girls. Also, her fluffy downy feathers have yet to come in - just long shiny pokey feathers...although that could be a breed thing since my other three are BOs and a BR. I post this tonight because it just happened that they were outside enjoying some free time when a crow soared overhead - the australorp made this cawing sound and was the first to sort of rally the troops. She's not the dominant female - the BR is dominant (while one of my BOs plays mama and calls to all the birds when she can't find them!) - so I wondered...no red comb or anything...but she has been known to sqwuak out those wierd caws once in a while.

Any thoughts?

 

[hdowden]

looks like a pullet thus far

 

[sammyj]

Looks exactly like my Australorp pullet!

 

[LeJeune1]

Runblebug, I'm a relative newbie to the chicken world, with only 1 year under my hat. However, I have noticed in my flocks that my Roos are the ones who give the "overhead preadator" alert. This could be a little roo.

Scott LeJeune

 

[4-H chicken mom]

It looks like my Australorpe pullet but this is one of those breeds that are hard to tell.