Female dominance issues or possible males??

[Nikki82]

I'm completely brand new to owning chickens, but have wanted to try it. I have four that are about 13 weeks old (bought when they were ten weeks). They were bought on the pretence that they were all female, but I'm begining to wonder about a couple of them. The two in question tend to have more of a strut to their walk; head and tail held high. I have also seen these two fighting with eachother on a couple of occasons ( no injuries fortunately). And the comb on one of the two in question is darkening faster than the rest of them. One male won't be so bad, but two will be a problem.

My chickens are leghorn/australorp crosses, if it makes a difference.

 

[LiLRedCV]

Pictures may help... while you can't post them until you have at least 10 posts on the forum, you can create a Photobucket acct and post a link to them.

 

[Nikki82]

I got some pictures, but can't seem to find the cord that connects my camera to the computer. I think I left it at a friends place by mistake. I'll post the pictures as soon as I can.

 

[galanie]

Young pullets will fight the males up to that age. Sounds like you have one male for sure. The other, well, like they said, pics please lol. From the side if possible and a clear shot of the head. We're looking at the feathering, stance, and size and coloring of the comb and the area around the eyes.

ETA: 10 posts will do it. Even replies to this thread count

 

[debid]

I had a dominant pullet that would put the cockerel in his place until he reached sexual maturity and decided that she was wrong about his place after all. It took a couple of weeks but he eventually took over the lead and she moved on to bossing around the other girls instead. But yeah, that all happened around 12-14 weeks so you're right in that zone for seeing some behavioral signs although I think they could easily be misinterpreted. FWIW, my girls still squabble sometimes and they look a whole lot like little cockerels when they do!

 

[Kanga77510]

I have a couple of hens who will mount the other hens and attempt to crow, and we have a rooster too! It's strange, but I don't fight it. The dominant hens have made the rooster a little more docile and he's less likely to mate and over-pluck them.

 

[Nikki82]

I've confermed with my friend that the cable I need to get my pictures from camera to computer is at his place. Unfortunately, he's 6hrs away, and won't be back up this way until Wednesday or Thursday (I usually go down on weekends). Thank you for your replies, they have been helpful. I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can.

 

[Nikki82]

Ok, so I've got my pictures onto my computer. The pictures were taken on Sunday, and unfortunately are a bit blurry. It's not easy holding a chicken in one hand and taking a picture with the other. From the top to bottom, they are Eenie, Meenie, Minie, and Moe. Eenie and Meenie are the ones that like to argue, but I'm posting all of them so you can compair how they look.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Can you post full body shots? Hard to tell with just the head.

 

[Nikki82]

Ok, well they don't stay still long enough for me to get a shot of them each indivitually. Which is why I picked them all up to get pictures. But I do have these pictures of them together.