Do hens crow?

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bbaggiolini

bbaggiolini

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I have a jersey giant and a white sexlink, along with 7 other hens. The jersey giant and sexlink have started crowing. So now
I'm wondering if their roosters.
 
bbaggiolini said:
I have a jersey giant and a white sexlink, along with 7 other hens. The jersey giant and sexlink have started crowing. So now
I'm wondering if their roosters.
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Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. You have two roosters. Your white sex link is actually a Red Sex Link. Male RSLs are white, and female RSLs are reddish colored with white underfluff. Sorry. :o( You need to either get rid of one of the roosters or else get a lot more hens as the recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. Too many roosters will be very hard physically on your hens; over-breeding them, biting, and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and even potentially seriously injuring them. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fights, unproductive mouths to feed, crowing in the middle of the night, and over-breeding and battering of hens that goes along with having roosters (especially too many of them). My hens are stress free and seem to enjoy not having any roosters around. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

X2 on Michael OShay's advice. Hens sometimes crow, but usually only when they are old or have reproductive problems. If a young bird crows, it's a male.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Michael and Wyandottes X2 You have two roosters. Hens can crow but generally as they are older and usually in a flock with no roosters.

Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours!
 
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its probly a rooster i have herd of hens after they molt they start crowing thats uncommon tho
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bbaggiolini said:
I have a jersey giant and a white sexlink, along with 7 other hens. The jersey giant and sexlink have started crowing. So now
I'm wondering if their roosters.
Click to expand...
If your sexlink is a red sex link and is mostly white, it's male. If it's a black sex link and it's barred, it's male. You'd have to post a pic of the JG for folks to see in the What Breed or Gender? section. Welcome to BYC!

Crowing hens are not as common as folks would like to think. If it's crowing, it's a rooster 99% of the time. And I have had one hen crow, a 5 year old hen who lost her rooster she'd been with all her life. She belted out a few over the course of two days and never did it again. And it was a true crow. But that's the only one in over 9 years of keeping my own flock and having as many as 50 hens at one time. I have had a couple do a long, protracted loud sound like a "moo", but it wasn't what I'd call a crow. One hen did it all the time. Called her The Mouth of the South.
 
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