Crowing Hens or Roosters?

[FL Crowing Hen]

Thanks! I thought as much. I will try to get a better photo of Daisy. At this point, it looks like 5 of my 9 pullets are cockerels. I'll post a better photo of Daisy as well as the other 3 to see what you all think.

I got them from a local chicken breeder. He keeps chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese and sells them and their eggs. He doesn't advertise or anything, and although he told me their breeds and genders, there is really no guarantee and not much I can do about it. I paid $22 for the 9 chicks. I suppose I can see if he'll take some of them back. I can't have so many roosters. They will fight each other and also stress out the poor hens. If he won't take them back, maybe I can sell or trade them. Although I know it's another option, I'm not really comfortable eating any of them.

 

[donrae]

Daisy is a mixed breed hen, the rest are roosters. If you bought them as pullets, have the seller make it right for you.

 

[Amberjem]

daisy only one might be hen and one other bird saw between two roosters in all your pictures, that is disappointing when ppl do such things, sorry you didnt get what you were expecting hope it works out for you

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

My original intention was to start with a small flock of hens for eggs, and possibly grow from there. Now it looks like I have 5 roos and 4 hens on my hands. They are 24 weeks old today. I don't think I can keep this ratio of roos to hens and have them be safe, happy, and healthy. The way I see it these are my options for at least some of the roos.

1) Sell or rehome them.
2) Eat them.
3) Separate them.
4) Let them free range on my property.


I'm not quite ready to eat them, although I may get to that point in the future. Right now, it would be similar to eating one of my dogs.

Although I have the space, I don't really have the set up to separate them effectively at this time.

I have thought about letting them free range, but my land is all open with very little in the way of trees or hiding spots. It would only be a matter of time before they get picked off by dogs, coyote, hawks, or other wildlife out here.

So unless someone has some other suggestions, that really leaves selling or rehoming them. I would like to keep them all, but I've narrowed it down to two. I picked them because one is clearly top dog and is the protector of the flock, and the other is one I have a soft spot for. He is the one in my avatar photo, and is supposed to be a White Leghorn Hen. Is keeping two still too many with four hens? What advice do you have for me?

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

OK, got some pictures of the four I think may be hens, including some better photos of Daisy. Thank you all for your feedback and advice. As a chicken newbie, I really appreciate it.

Hawkeye - supposed to be an Ameracauna Hen, I'm not sure about her/him? Pullet or Cockerel?













Daisy - supposed to be a White Leghorn Hen. She's quite aggressive with the other chickens, which makes me wonder if she may not be a he. Then again, maybe thinning out the roos may calm her down if she is a she.










Rerun - supposed to be a Jersey Giant Hen. She gets picked on the most and isn't very aggressive at all.






Frosty - supposed to be an Ameracauna Hen. She's very docile, and I'm pretty sure she's a hen.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hawkeye and Daisy are cockerels.

 

[enola]

Rerun and frosty are hens. All of the rest of the chickens are roosters . Aussie is a black sexlink rooster. Slick is a red sexlink rooster. Is there any chance the breeder may swap these roosters for hens?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Rerun looks to be a black sex link rather than a Jersey Giant due to the copper collar.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

With only the two pullets in the bunch, you need to be rid of every single rooster - or adding some actual pullets to the mix -- Id be contacting the "breeder" ASAP about this as the birds are not the gender OR breeds you were told they were. IF you want to continue dealing with them and they are willing you could keep your favorite roo and trade the whole lot of the rest of them for pullets. I would also suggest either taking an experienced flock keeper with you or getting very familiar with gender clues and breed differences so you can avoid another "oops" on the part of the breeder.

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

Wow! I planned on 9 pullets, and I've got 2 pullets and 7 cockerels. Wow! No wonder there's so much drama going on in my chicken pen. Ironically, they'd probably get along ok without the 2 females in their midst, but then I'd have no eggs. I've been feeding layer rations to a bunch of cocks. The irony is comical.

My husband is going to visit the breeder today. He's an old guy with a huge operation of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Over 300 birds on his property. Despite the volume, he doesn't advertise or anything and sells birds and eggs based on word of mouth. I wonder if he somehow got confused when sexing them for me. Oh well, we'll see if he will take them back.

So, I've read a bunch of stuff about distinguishing males and females, yet it was really hard for me to tell for sure. Of course I think part of that was denial since I was told by an experienced chicken farmer that they were pullets. Even when they started crowing, I found some articles about hens crowing and figured that's what I had, crowing hens, lol. So any tips on how to tell them apart? I'm now a little gun shy and am worried that if I try again, I'll end up with roosters again.