hens acting like roosters?

[cybrchick]

We have 7 birds. 2 americaunas which are molested often as well as bullied, 3 rir, 2 deleware. 1 del and 1 rir are roos. Obvious by their struts, combs, feathering, and of course crowing. My family thinks the other 2 rir are roos but they have smaller combs, less flamboyant feathering, and dont crow. They are all around 20 weeks.

Anytime the americaunas are handled, or the flock runs bc of the dog or we approach and they spook - the roos molest the americaunas. Back and forth. Its kind of sad to see her ganged up on until she can fly away. Well tonight one of the hens jumped on board too and acted like a roo. Biting the neck, on the back. Husband insists she is a roo. I'm think its just dominating behavior. Why would she (or he??) do that?

 

[sourland]

The bird exhibiting that behavior is probably a rooster. It's time to get rid of some of your roosters before your hens are injured. Gang breeding can lead to torn sides and backs and other injuries.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

At 20 weeks *something* should be showing that says 'hey look, I'm a rooster!'. Was it the Americana that jumped the roo or a different breed? EEs (likely an EE if from an hatchery, ie, Easter egger, an Americana cross) are very hard to sex.

Sorry sour land but I'm gonna have to say female whose being dominant. Some Roos will mount each other. Hens will mount each other (heck a female goat will try to breed another female goat if she's in heat!)
Granite it's possible it's a roo but unless its the EE then I vote girly girl whose just dominant ^^

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think the ones in question are those other two RIR your family thinks are roosters but you don’t. Can you post photos of the one(s) in question? Some can be hard to sex because of the feathering or combs, even that late, but RIR should be possible. They should be single combed and have fairly normal feathers which makes it easier. A profile photo of the head showing comb and wattles would help, taken from an angle so it’s not straight on. But also a body shot, showing legs and overall conformation. The hackle and saddle feathers should also be getting pointy by 20 weeks.

No need to speculate why a hen might do that until we determine it is actually a hen.

 

[sourland]

At 20 weeks *something* should be showing that says 'hey look, I'm a rooster!'. Was it the Americana that jumped the roo or a different breed? EEs (likely an EE if from an hatchery, ie, Easter egger, an Americana cross) are very hard to sex.

Sorry sour land but I'm gonna have to say female whose being dominant. Some Roos will mount each other. Hens will mount each other (heck a female goat will try to breed another female goat if she's in heat!)
Granite it's possible it's a roo but unless its the EE then I vote girly girl whose just dominant ^^

Why be sorry? It's only an opinion.

I have never seen hen on hen 'mating dominance' in flocks containing roosters, but am smart enough to know that when it comes to animals very little is 100%.

 

[cybrchick]

It was the americauna getting mounted, not doing the mounting. Will try to get pics, I'm wheelchair bound for a few weeks so have to rely on the family. Just sent my son, the chicken whisperer, out to do it. He wasnt here but thinks its dominating as well. He works for a neighbor who has hundreds of chickens and breeds them, so he's more familiar. Lol.

On the ee vs americ - I dont know the difference real well. I did look on the breeding/gender forum and looked over identifying hens vs roos and I think both are hens. 1 for sure since we are getting a blue egg now 3 days in a row. (We didnt expect the eggs for several more weeks from those, but did from the rir and deleware hens. No eggs from then yet tho.)

 

[cybrchick]

Oh and we do plan very soon to remove all but 1 roo. (We have 3 youngers that are kept seperate but turns out 2 are roos) But we have never done it so gotta get it all figured out.

 

[cybrchick]

Ok. Our 2 americaunas - the one closer is the one getting the worst, tho they both do get picked on and molested.

Our rir roo - seems obvious to me

RIR 1 girl (not sure which was the offender)

RIR 2

Both1 and 2

 

[sourland]

All RIR pictured are roosters.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Sourland ~ only reason I was 'sorry' was cause your the like ' weird old smart guy' xD I wasn't really 'sorry' just like a 'sorry but gonna disagree'.
Oh and I had an old hen who'd mount dominance, hated the hen (egg eater) and she was soon food but she was def. head and made sure everyone knew it!

But yeah all the RIR are Roos. One of the Americans looks like a roo. Could you get a better pic? Looks like he may have some saddle feathers ^^
Oh and 20 weeks is when most breeeds start laying though it can vary between 18-23 weeks. Some hens longer, some hens sooner. ^^