Do pullets ever try to crow?

[DurangoTango]

I've got 6 two-month-old pullets - 3 americanas and 3 barred rocks. I've moved them into the "nursery" section, where they can see and watch the flock, safe behind a chicken-wire fence. This morning, one of the americana's stretched up her neck and made a strangling noise that I SWEAR sounded like her version of the rooster crowing! My big rhode island red rooster was outside the hen house at the time, strutting his stuff and crowing like crazy. Was she just trying to answer him, or is it more likely I got a little rooster mixed in with my pullets? Do young hens ever try to crow?

 

[mrszlopez]

Ive heard of a lot of hens imitating the roosters. Look it up on youtube & have yourself a laugh !

 

[dandydoodle]

I am pretty new to chickens but, I don't think hens crow. My guess would be a roo. Why were you so sure she is a girl are they supposed to have been sexed?

 

[DurangoTango]

Yes, they were all supposedly pullets - this one "hen" is definitely the dominant girl in the group. There are no signs of her being a rooster, other than she's a tad bit bigger than the others. No sign of spurs or anything. I'm keeping an eye on her, and we'll see if she turns into a Roo! If so, my neighbor said she'd take her (since I already have a great, big, beautiful Roo.) I'm really hoping she's a "she" - she's the prettiest Americauna I've got in the group - white with black feathers!

 

[Carrie Lynn]

My banty hen (1 yr.-old) has been indoors recovering from a respiratory infection.
She crows most mornings. It doesn't sound just like a roo, but it's obvious that she is trying to crow like one.

Until she became ill, she was the dominant hen in my flock of 3. I hear dominant hens, will sometimes do that if no roo.

 

[mkearsley]

I got a "pullet hen" last spring that started making those strangled cries. After about two weeks, I found out that "she" was a "he." If your pullet's crows start sound more like actual crows, than you've got a new boy. I do have a hen that will attempt to crow every now & again, but I was told (in a thread here, actually) that the dominant hen will do that in a rooster-free flock. Unfortunately, roosters are so much prettier than the hens

I had a gorgeous young bird that I really wanted to keep, but it was a rooster, & I'm not legally allowed roosters in town.

I hope that your pullet turns out to be a girl, after all. good luck

 

[Tikkijane]

Is there any hope for us? My blue andalusian tried crowing this morning- twice. They were at the crack of 6:30 am.

Nothing since. Terribly rusting sounding, lol.

Is there any chance this may still turn out to be a girl?

 

[JodyJo]

I have 3 EE's, 2 I KNOW are roos, but the one I thought was a pullet, is also crowing ( and yes a pullet will crow at times) comes to find out, by overwhelming concensus, that she is a he...see pics below, no indication on wattle or comb, but the crow tells me so....

roo #1 (also these are crossed with a Polish I believe)

roo #2

and before yesterday, pullet...now roo #3?

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
I suppose we can all wait, mine are 9 weeks old, a bit of time left, to see if there are any eggs...!

 

[Tikkijane]

Quote:
Mine are moving out shortly, but if it keeps up, none of us will get as much sleep as we'd like, lol. I'm giving it a few more days to see if anything changes..... we've long wondered if this was a roo, but I'm attached, so have been holding on to hope, lol.