Confused, my blue Marans hen is crowing!

[Blue]

Quote:
Is there any chance the person you got them from would let you trade him back for a hen? You could also mention that your chickens turned out to be Olive Eggers/EEs and not Marans. If it was an honest mistake, she may let you trade back for the actual breed you wanted.

 

[Wise Woman]

She probably would, but it is a two hour drive each way to her house and I already made that trek once. I expected that a breeder would keep the breeds separate so this type of thing wouldn't happen. Plus she is pretty much sold out now so I would have to wait until I don't know when to trade them off. Plus I need eggs now and if I trade for more chicks, I would have another 4 or 5 month wait. So I will just keep whoever is a hen regardless of egg color so I at least have some eggs. My old girls are between 6 and 10 years of age and I am only getting one or two eggs a day between the 7 of them. So I was hoping to get some new egg colors in my flock since I already have 5 EEs and 2 RIRs. It is just very discouraging is all.

 

[HEChicken]

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Do you have more pics of the "sister"? I.e. side on shots so we can see the body, tail etc? In the limited amount I can see of that one, I'm tempted to think it is also an EE/Marans mix boy, since as you say, the comb is the same size/color.

 

[Wise Woman]

Yes. Here is a shot of the whole trio. The one in question, Camille or Carl is on the left and the sister is on the right. The one in the middle was supposed to be a splash or blue Maran and then I was told she was an Olive Egger, so now I am not really sure what any of them are. She was breeding blue, black and splash Marans as well as Olive Eggers. I think she must have mixed the chicks all up.

Camille, Claire and Charlotte

Thanks so much for all the help. I am most grateful. I guess I will know for sure if and when each one starts laying eggs. If they are green I will know they aren't Marans and if they don't lay, I will know they aren't hens! LOL!!!

 

[madamwlf]

Quote:
To me they both look like roosters.

 

[debid]

Yep, both are cockerel EE/OEs and they're going to be some pretty roos. I'd absolutely contact the breeder and let him/her have a chance at making things right.

 

[pips&peeps]

You have two cockerels there, don't know about the third one though. I would ask her to send you a refund since clearly the two boys are mixed.

By the way, a "trio" consists of a cockerel and two pullets or rooster and two hens.

 

[Wise Woman]

pips&peeps :

You have two cockerels there, don't know about the third one though. I would ask her to send you a refund since clearly the two boys are mixed.

By the way, a "trio" consists of a cockerel and two pullets or rooster and two hens.

I know that, but I told her I couldn't have roos and so she said she would give me 3 hens instead. I am really discouraged about this.​

 

[catsew]

Just wanted to say sorry and I get how you feel. I am dealing with at least 2 roos, possibly 3. But I knew I was taking that chance going in and they were free. My friend hatched them out her chickens because she wanted to use the incubator again. I can't imagine how upset I would be had I paid and drove 2 hours to get them.

 

[Gypsy07]

That pic of the three of them all together, the pullet in the middle looks to have a single comb and no beard or muffs. I'm not sure cause we don't have EEs here in the UK, but it doesn't look like one to me. I think you might just have one Marans lady there...

And if I lived anywhere near you, I'd take your clean legged roo in a shot. I would actually buy him from you. He looks absolutely fantastic.

As for how to tell hens and roos apart, it's easy once they're as mature as this:

See where the arrows are? Where the feathers are really obviously pointy instead of round? That's roo feathers. The ones at his neck are called hackle feathers and the other ones are called saddle feathers. When they're long and pointy and they kind of fall and drape, it's a dead giveaway. You can see the other one's hackle feathers really clearly at the bottom of the photo.

Comparing combs and wattles works really well when you have a bunch of chicks that are all the same breed and age. But if you have a bunch of different breeds who mature at different speeds, and with different types of combs too, comparing them isn't much use...