Black Australorp - Hen or Roo?

[Painted Calls]

All are pullets. Bird in pic 2 has very masculine wattles. Good grief.

 

[bjdewell]

Hello Everyone:

I am new to this site and new to raising Black Australorps. I have raised other breeds in the past but decided to try Black Australorps this time.

I ordered 8 pullets from a local hatchery in early March 2021. One was DOA, and two died within the first 24 hours which left me with 5 chicks. We cannot have roosters in our area which is why I specifically ordered only pullets.

They are now 18 weeks old with no eggs laid yet. I noticed that a few of them make loud and long, "Eeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" noises--but no "cock-a-doodle doo" sounds. Although males and female Black Australorps are supposed to look similar, I have my doubts about some of my 5 chickens.

I heard that this site is filled with knowledgeable people, and I would like your thoughts on whether these 5 are roos or hens. I took pictures of their combs/waddles, neck feathers, tail feathers, and legs if anyone is interested in more details. I will post about 3 pictures of each chicken and label the pictures by chicken number (C1 - C5). Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you so much.

What are your thoughts? Hen or Roo?
--Chicken 1
--Chicken 2
--Chicken 3
--Chicken 4
--Chicken 5

(I also just added some standing pictures below.)

I love this post because I have four Black Australorps who are 16 weeks old. They all look pretty much the same, about the same size and shape, etc., but all have different sizes and colors of combs and wattles, from large, medium, medium, small on the sizes, and bright red down to pale on the colors. I was suspicious of the hen with the biggest, brightest comb, thinking she might be a rooster. But yours look very much like mine and have the same differences, so I believe all mine are pullets, which is what I want.