Hope this doesn't sound too silly a question, but.....do pullets ever crow????

[jondee]

I have 3 12-week old youngsters, one BO, one Wyandotte, and one EE, and as I was walking out to open their shed door this morning, I heard one of them crow several times. It was unmistakably coming from my shed. It was a good, solid little crow, too, not the screechy, teen-boy sound I remembered from my parents' young roosters. To my untrained eye, none of these three birds look like roosters----no tail feathers to speak of, very small comb, if any----hence my question!

Tell me what I want to hear

, that pullets can sometimes crow! Otherwise, I'm afraid someone will be going to a new home...

Joni in CA

 

[chicken pickin]

Can you post pics of these chickens. I have heard that some hens will crow but im not sure about young pullets. My guess is you have a young roo in the mix. From my understanding orpingtons are slow to mature and a roo can stay pullet-like for quite a while.

Pics will help.

 

[donrae]

Not at this age, no. Older, dominant hens with hormonal imbalances can crow, but at this age a crowing bird is male. Post pics and we'll tell you who it is.

Don't know why, but my guess is on the Easter egger.

 

[BantamLover21]

A crowing "pullet" of this age is almost certainly a cockerel. Older hens who are dominant, live in a flock without a rooster, or have damage done to one of their ovaries may crow. In fact, some hens like this begin to mount other hens and act like roosters in other ways, too. But this doesn't happen so young.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Young pullets do not crow. Older hens, especially dominant ones, can crow ocaisonally. If a bird is crowing at this age, "it" is a rooster.

 

[jondee]

Well heck. Not what I wanted to hear, but oh well! I can't post pics too easily, but my guess is it's the EE. It (he!) does have a fairly long tail as compared to the other two. The BO has basically no tail at all at this point, and the Wyandotte doesn't have much of one. None of them really have combs happening yet.

Maybe I'll keep him and see what it's like having a roo among my hens....

Thank you all for the speedy replies!

Joni

 

[chicken pickin]

What color is your EE?

 

[appps]

While it seems that many new chicken owners grab onto that hen crowing thing as a last hope lol. The main word there is hen. Yes mature hens can on very rare occasions but young pullets don't.

Sorry. Hope you find the culprit a good home.

 

[donrae]

One way to tell on the Easter egger is to look at the comb. If it has the common pea comb, it should be easy to tell male from female. A single row of ridges down the comb means female. A triple row of ridges means male. You can look on any of the multiple threads on sexing Easter eggers for examples to look at.

color is also an indicator. If your EE is flashy, with patches of color on the body as opposed to a smooth, even color, it's male.