Help. How do I get my hen to stop crowing?

[featherhead007]

That is a rooster.

Very pretty boy!

No, in no situation can the diet of a hen make it crow, in my experience.

"Then you've never tried my homemade hot sauce"! kidding

 

[featherhead007]

I got them from my nephew who has a yard full of chickens and dogs. I am very sad to think that I have all cockerels. We were hoping for eggs soon.

Supermarket, Eggs $1.29 a dozen! Bacon $ 3.49 lb.

 

[nuthatched]

My nephew will take them back and give us at least one hen. I got them when they were 6 weeks old. Kind of hard to tell at that age, I think.

Actually, you can usually tell at 6 weeks, if their combs are the least bit pink at that point, they're boys. About 10-12 weeks is the better bet but 6 weeks is possible

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Here are my chickens. Do you recognize the breeds?

You have all roosters, someone lied to you.
They are all males and all mutts. Mongrels.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I got them from my nephew who has a yard full of chickens and dogs. I am very sad to think that I have all cockerels. We were hoping for eggs soon.

I think your nephew just pawned some roosters off on you.
How old were they when you got them?
If they were over 3 weeks...he just was using you.

 

[NatJ]

I think your nephew just pawned some roosters off on you.
How old were they when you got them?
If they were over 3 weeks...he just was using you.

I got them when they were 6 weeks old.

The nephew may have just made a mistake.
At 6 weeks, people often judge sex by comb size.
But these birds have small pea combs--so he may have thought they were pullets because they had small combs.
That kind of mistake is most likely when someone has some single-comb birds and some pea-comb birds, which he does.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I just got my 3 little hens in October. They are 16 weeks old today. One of the Barred Rock hens started crowing a bit over a week ago. We are not allowed to have roosters in our suburb city due to the noise. I am worried that a neighbor will report us and we'll have to get rid of everything. Our city is very quick to enforce ordinances. Could diet cause a hen to do this or is it only a dominance behavior? Some of the treats we have given them are high protein and I read that sometimes that messes with their hormones. I thought protein treats were good for them. My husband is ready to get rid of her but I don't want to. How do you tell the sex besides looking at their combs and waddles?

I'm sorry, but you've got yourself a very pretty rooster.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Here are my chickens. Do you recognize the breeds?

These are boys too. I'm sorry.