Hen acting like a rooster, maybe?

[TheReddyFam]

We bought 4 pullets hens all around the same age but all different breeds; a barred rock, a golden spangled hamburg, a buff orpington, and a blue ameraucana. All the birds have been producing wonderfully except for the blue ameraucana. And more recently this fruitless bird has started to cock-a-doodle-doo like a rooster.
Well, obviously we are beginning to wondering if she is really a hen. I tried to look up some pictures but the blue ameraucana roosters seem to look about the same as the hens. What is even stranger about this whole senario is that the ameraucana is at the bottom of the pecking order. I am puzzled.
We live in a fairy dense neighborhood though and it is beginning to be a noise disturbance. Not to mention that it is illegal to have a rooster in city limits.
Any thoughts or suggestions of how to curb this bird's behavior or tell if it is a hen or rooster?

 

[Bunnylady]

There really isn't a way to stop a bird from crowing. And while it is possible for a hen to crow (I had a Serama hen that did it while she was raising some chicks in a tote in my living room) the likelier scenario is that your bird is indeed a rooster. There are a few exceptions, but in most breeds, regardless of color, the neck feathers and the feathers just above the tail are long, slender and pointed in the roosters. While Ameraucanas don't have huge tails, there are longer, downward curving feathers on the tail of the rooster. Ameraucana hens may have a few curved feathers in their tails, but they are small, and they don't have the long pointy saddle feathers. The neck feathers on Ameraucana hens are usually a bit pointed, but they are not very long. This breed is notoriously tough to tell the gender on.

 

[donrae]

Post a picture of the bird, and please tell us how old it is, that's important when sexing a bird.

 

[Kidhenduckohmy]

I had this happen too. We bought seven pullets, two buff orpingtons, two RIR, and two Americaunas. As a last minute decision we got a silver laced Wyndotte as my daughter wanted a black chicken. Well the Whyndotte was always the most confident. And one day we heard a mangled crow. I dismissed it at first, because I bought all hens...right? Well finally it was just obvious it was a rooster. BIL came over and butchered it as we live in a small town. Oh well, I am learning as I go.