Australorp, Isa Brown and Silkies - boys or girls?

[jonaeselaye]

Good morning everyone!

My boyfriend and I are new to backyard chicken care, we got three silkies from a farmer 3 months ago and have been obsessed with them ever since.

Last weekend we also got an Isa brown, Honey, and an Australorp, Maya, from a colleague's friend (in hindsight, we realise was not ideal). We were only after an Isa brown but he convinced us to also take one of his Australorps because he said that he was certain all his Australorps were female and that Australorps were friendlier than Isa Browns. We picked a black Australorp that was super friendly to humans and we bonded with her (?) straight away. During the week we had no issues but we started to notice her pecking at one of the silkies and she started sleeping on top of the one of the henhouses. Then today at around 6am she started making sounds. It wasn't exactly a crow, the sounds were a gentle "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" but now I'm concerned that our Maya is a cockerel learning to crow. She has done it around 5-6 times so far and it sounds like a young animal or child calling for help (which is what we thought it was at first).

I would appreciate some help determining if she is a male please. And also our other chickens as I am now a bit worried that more of them will start showing signs of being male. My boyfriend's uncle has farm that they may be able to go to if they are male, we will just be sad to say goodbye.

We were told that Maya and Honey are around 7 months old and the silkies are sound the same age.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[alexa009]

Are your sure the crowning sound wasn't one of the silkies? The black chicken isn't an australorp because there is gold on its wing. Is it laying eggs yet? I believe it's a hen.

 

[lilmillefleur]

Maya is a cockerel. And probably not pure australorp either. Red patches on the wings often mean cockerel, and true aussies are solid black.
Honey is a pullet.
Unsure on the silkies. Closeup pics might help.

 

[alexa009]

A 7 month old cockerel should also have spurs, are you sure he/she is 7 months? Is she/he the same size as the red sex link?

 

[jonaeselaye]

Thank you for the quick reply everyone.

We also had a few doubts about their ages and Maya's breed after we saw the brownish feathers. Lesson learnt about buying from a colleague's friend instead of the a proper farmer or breeder They are the same height, the isa is a bit rounder.
I'll check Maya for spurs now.

For now here a few better photos of the Silkies
Veronica






Vanessa (black) and Violet

 

[ChickNanny13]

Black one is a cockerel, I think I see saddle feathering & the red on the wing. The Red is a pullet, no sure about the Silkies but thinking all pullets.

@JedJackson

 

[FeatherstoneFrm]

Maya is a mixed cockerel but probably not 7 months old. Here is my 7 month old Australorp for comparison. He is at least 18" tall.

 

[jonaeselaye]

A 7 month old cockerel should also have spurs, are you sure he/she is 7 months? Is she/he the same size as the red sex link?

Here are the best images I could get of his/her feet, I don't think I see any spurs but it's probably because she's younger than what I was told

 

[BullChick]

 

[alexa009]

I agree the black one is a cockerel and the rest are hens. I don't believe he is 7 months though, probably around 3-4 months and a mixed breed. He looks like a black copper maran x black australorp cross. He is a handsome cockerel too and your lucky you got him!