Greetings from new chicken owner in Nova Scotia

Hello. I am posting from the East coast of Canada. BYC has been one of my favorite sites since I first decided to get chickens in May of this year. I was looking for just a few laying hens for personal use and because our climate can be harsh, I opted for heritage breeds. I bought 8 straight run day old chicks. By 3 months old it was obvious that I had 2 roos...one barred rock and one RIR. Now, and I am sure others can relate to this, I think I have mistaken 2 roos for hens! My favorite hen, Henrietta, is crowing and Penny is trying to as well. They are not nearly as good as the original rooster, Max, but they are getting better. And they are getting longer tail feathers, bigger waddles and I think saddle feathers. Darn! They were my faves! They don't have the upright body carriage that Max has, the real heavy legs or the really long tail...yet. I was really hoping it was just crowing hens, but thanks to articles here....I think my egg numbers have lowered before they began! Now I have fingers crossed that the 3 RIR hens are hens and I am almost positive I have a female Australorp. I guess this is just part of the fun!

 

Thanks for the welcomes...and yes, maybe I could grow my own hens to make up the difference! That will be many more questions here though as I know nothing about hatching eggs lol