Do young roosters CLUCK?

[Kitchenella]

I'm still trying to decide if my hen is a rooster. It has stopped peeping but still doesn't crow. The other day it made a clucking noise. Do roosters go right from the peeping stage to crowing?

Peggy

Feeling a bit foolish for such a dumb question.

 

[Mahonri]

Yeah, the can cluck... just watch out for that first crow... Usually at about 16 to 17 weeks.

 

[basicliving]

How old are your chicks? Is your roo suspect developing a little larger comb and wattles?

I have 2 roos and one of them matured a lot faster than the other. He was alternating between clucking and peeping by 3 weeks old. At 6 weeks old he was crowing. The other didn't crow until he was around 14 weeks old - but he had a larger comb and wattle much earlier than that. By 4 weeks old I could definitely tell which were roosters - maybe even a little earlier.

Hope that helps.

Penny

 

[gumpsgirl]

Yep! Even my older ones do sometimes.

 

[Kitchenella]

We have 4 and I don't know for sure how old any of them are. The biggest one started laying 2 weeks ago.

The next oldest I'm guessing will mature in about 4 weeks If I can judge by her size. The other one we got with her was sick and seems better but hasn't grown as much.

The questionable one we got last at the end of August. He/she was all black at the time. I'm guessing maybe 2-3 weeks old? Since then he/she has gotten black and white cuckoo barring. The chick is obviously a mix of some sort. The comb looks a bit roostery but not definitive. It has reached the size of the next oldest chick so it will be large which also suggests rooster but so far I havn't seen distinctive hackel feathers so I'm still not sure. It also is not showing any particular bossy behavior. I'm still hoping its a girl because we live in an apartment complex that won't appreciate a rooster crowing at odd hours.

I'll just have to have patience.

Peg