Can someone tell me if this is a rooster?

[Karinspinn]

Identifying the gender of chickens can be hard, especially when they don't want anyone to know there gender. I waited 10 months to find out the gender of my Silkie, and everyone on here says she is a hen so hopefully she will start laying

Aww I hope she starts laying for you soon! May I ask where you get your hens from? I saw a site you can order gena at a few weeks old and I was th inking about doing something like that.

 

[Karinspinn]

Hmmm, I assume your buns are returned to a smaller set up after their 'frolics' so I can see why it would be such a blast for them....go you!! My buns have equally as big a pen as the chickens so they won't gain anything from just 'play time' in there, I was more thinking that both buns and chooks could have double the living space. So my thoughts on poopy feet were valid then? xxx

Yes my buns have a hutch they go in so you may be right.. although just being with the chickens gives them some excitement because they love going up to them and scaring them away hehe... I don't think you should combine the two enclosures because of the poo situation.. But let them play together sure! Just watch them the first couple of times together. You're buns are living the life with having an enclosure like that! I can't wait to build something bigger for my floofys!

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

Wow! You lost them all to opossums? I have trouble with the hawks so I didn't expect this! I hate losing any of my girls.. It's such a blow especially after raising them up. I hope my girl will make it. I can't wait for warmed weather to redo my whole enclosure! But for now I will just focuse on reinforcing all small holes and any problem spots. I want to get more girls but after getting my last batch and getting the red rooster in it I'm kinda afraid to lol..

Like I said, we didn't actually catch the possum in the act, so we are not 100% sure he was the culprit in all 3 instances... but he definitely won't be a problem now! We have no shortage of predators here unfortunately. All three of our losses occurred while our girls were free ranging unsupervised. So now our girls are confined to an enclosed run when we can't be outside to watch them & we aren't shy about removing predators if we happen to come across them.
Don't be scared to get more! It happened to us too. We bought 6 chicks from TSC... 2 turned out to be roos! We thought, hey, might be fun to hatch chicks! But they were not well behaved young gentlemen. They were far too aggressive with each other & the ladies & me & my husband , but the last straw was when one of those hormonal beasts went after one of my kids ... they made delicious soup!
So, it happens to all of us on occasion, just make the best of it... worse case scenario, you get dinner instead of breakfast!
Regarding your hawk problem, you said your enclosure is covered? If you would like some ideas of how to shire it up, you could post some pics here. There are some great people who have been responding to this thread. They might be able to give you some pointers to help shore up your run to help prevent future losses.

 

[happyhens1972]

Yes my buns have a hutch they go in so you may be right.. although just being with the chickens gives them some excitement because they love going up to them and scaring them away hehe... I don't think you should combine the two enclosures because of the poo situation.. But let them play together sure! Just watch them the first couple of times together. You're buns are living the life with having an enclosure like that! I can't wait to build something bigger for my floofys!

We actually built our enclosure for the bunnies in the first place. I used to have two separate pairs but when both of one pair had passed away, we converted their pen to a chicken pen. The divider between the two pens is just chicken wire so the bunnies do go nose-to-beak with the chooks sometimes so maybe I could try a bit of 'together time' just for entertainment purposes....theirs, not mine!! They like to say hello to the alpacas too!!!

 

[Karinspinn]

Like I said, we didn't actually catch the possum in the act, so we are not 100% sure he was the culprit in all 3 instances... but he definitely won't be a problem now! We have no shortage of predators here unfortunately. All three of our losses occurred while our girls were free ranging unsupervised. So now our girls are confined to an enclosed run when we can't be outside to watch them & we aren't shy about removing predators if we happen to come across them.
Don't be scared to get more! It happened to us too. We bought 6 chicks from TSC... 2 turned out to be roos! We thought, hey, might be fun to hatch chicks! But they were not well behaved young gentlemen. They were far too aggressive with each other & the ladies & me & my husband , but the last straw was when one of those hormonal beasts went after one of my kids ... they made delicious soup!
So, it happens to all of us on occasion, just make the best of it... worse case scenario, you get dinner instead of breakfast!
Regarding your hawk problem, you said your enclosure is covered? If you would like some ideas of how to shire it up, you could post some pics here. There are some great people who have been responding to this thread. They might be able to give you some pointers to help shore up your run to help prevent future losses.

Oh yes I had two of these little roos that attacked my son but they were just too pretty to kill so I gave them away to a man that does 4H kinda shows and he won some ribbons! I'm new at this whole thing I've only been doing it for a year and I didn't actually want chickens but my father bought them for my son and dropped them off and left! So I have very minimal resources to start any type of enclosure or pen.. I started with just a old wooden rabbit coop that was their home and finally got enough money to build a wired type pen and now the coop is where they sleep and lay. Its all wire and I've reinforced it with some boards I found.. the top is wire and i have put like an old plastic table on top and a few rain guards for their little spot when it rains or snows.. id call my enclosure very redneck haha! Its all I had to work with at the time so I tried.. I already have a ton of pallets for spring when I can build something better.. all of the hawk attacks happened while they were free ranging and I didn't have my rooster yet.. I don't know how to even start to kill a chicken myself or de feather it.. I have a ton to learn!! I'm a bit too embarressed to post pics of the enclosure as it was done so poorly by my boyfriend.. I've done my best to reinforce it though. I have a shed right next to thier pen that acts as some of the wall and it would be a perfect coop for them but my grandmother has been hard to convince to do it.. It even has a square cut out on the side from when it was a pool house that would make the perfect door for them! I have her half sold on it though as she said I can convert half of it. Here's a pic of the 2 little roos I had.. I have no idea what kind they were not they were vicious and they fricken flew! Also here' a shot of the little square spot on the shed on the pen. Some of roof with lattice on it.. It's much more reinforced since then though on the sides and the top. I'll have to go out and take some pictures of it.. Thank you so much for your reply though, I really appreciate it!

 

[happyhens1972]

Oh yes I had two of these little roos that attacked my son but they were just too pretty to kill so I gave them away to a man that does 4H kinda shows and he won some ribbons! I'm new at this whole thing I've only been doing it for a year and I didn't actually want chickens but my father bought them for my son and dropped them off and left! So I have very minimal resources to start any type of enclosure or pen.. I started with just a old wooden rabbit coop that was their home and finally got enough money to build a wired type pen and now the coop is where they sleep and lay. Its all wire and I've reinforced it with some boards I found.. the top is wire and i have put like an old plastic table on top and a few rain guards for their little spot when it rains or snows.. id call my enclosure very redneck haha! Its all I had to work with at the time so I tried.. I already have a ton of pallets for spring when I can build something better.. all of the hawk attacks happened while they were free ranging and I didn't have my rooster yet.. I don't know how to even start to kill a chicken myself or de feather it.. I have a ton to learn!! I'm a bit too embarressed to post pics of the enclosure as it was done so poorly by my boyfriend.. I've done my best to reinforce it though. I have a shed right next to thier pen that acts as some of the wall and it would be a perfect coop for them but my grandmother has been hard to convince to do it.. It even has a square cut out on the side from when it was a pool house that would make the perfect door for them! I have her half sold on it though as she said I can convert half of it. Here's a pic of the 2 little roos I had.. I have no idea what kind they were not they were vicious and they fricken flew! Also here' a shot of the little square spot on the shed on the pen. Some of roof with lattice on it.. It's much more reinforced since then though on the sides and the top. I'll have to go out and take some pictures of it.. Thank you so much for your reply though, I really appreciate it!

Looks like your chickens are very happy with their 'redneck' home....after all, aesthetics is for us, not the animals. We were very fortunate that we made a bit of profit when we sold up our old house and moved to our current location so we had money up front to make a really good enclosure for the, then, rabbits. Fully fox and buzzard proofed (our only predator threats). The original plan had been to build another, separate, chicken enclosure, which was equal in size to both rabbit pens put together but as we didn't actually have the chickens at that time, it took lower priority while we sorted other things. Then, by the time we focused on chickens, we had spent all the money on fencing and housing for the goats and alpacas but sadly, two of our bunnies had passed away....so we stole their pen! It means I am having to be VERY careful with my chicken maths as the pen really can't take too many chooks. I have cochin, orps and brahma, two of each, all very large girls, so there will be a limit to how many more I can have. I have hatched some CCLs though, and will be keeping two pullets and a cockerel from them, leaving maybe two final spaces in Spring, for a couple of ex batts....just because it feels so good to rescue them and give them the life they deserve

 

[lazy gardener]

We shall agree to disagree about the reason why a male will mount an other male and a female will mount an other female. Apparently we shall also agree to disagree about the theory of evolution versus Creation.

 

[Kessel23]

We shall agree to disagree about the reason why a male will mount an other male and a female will mount an other female. Apparently we shall also agree to disagree about the theory of evolution versus Creation.

Sorry for getting your beliefs involved in the argument Lazy gardener, I was angry that you rejected my theory of why the rooster was not crowing and I really overreacted, I have deleted the post.

 

[lazy gardener]

Apology accepted.

 

[drumstick diva]

Your son looks like he really has his hands full - what a cutie.