I'm confused

[Lornajoyce58]

I have a flock of ten ISA Browns, aged 14 months. About two months ago, a friend had a friend who had a chicken coming and going in her yard. She was getting worried because the weather was getting cold. My friend told her I have chickens and I rescued it. I have little knowledge of chickens. She has none, so she knew nothing about it. I asked if she ever heard it crow. She hadn't.

I tried to do the necessary things to integrate this new chicken to my flock. It took time, but it finally looks like part of the flock. Here's the problem. Is it a hen or a rooster? At first, I assumed it was a hen. However, it has grown about three long feathers in its tail and once, it crowed when I let them out of the coop. On the other hand, it has no wattles or spurs. I did see it jump on top of one of the hens once, but I think that is the one that kept trying to torture it. (All my hens look so much alike it's hard to be sure.) Assuming it turns out to be male, should I be concerned about it eating layer feed? Is it a leghorn or some other white chicken breed?

Sorry. I took these pictures as it was getting dark. I hope you can see enough to answer my questions.

 

[cherrynberry]

Cockerel.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Need better photos to ID breed, but it is male.

 

[BlueBaby]

Rooster.

 

[sourland]

cockerel - likely a cross bred bird.

 

[Lornajoyce58]

Thanks. I just last week started thing it was a rooster. That was after I heard the crow and realized it was growing tail feathers. I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow. Will it grow spurs and wattles or does that depend on the breed?

 

[cherrynberry]

Thanks. I just last week started thing it was a rooster. That was after I heard the crow and realized it was growing tail feathers. I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow. Will it grow spurs and wattles or does that depend on the breed?

Depends on the breed(s). He looks like an EE to me. EEs tend to get pea combs and beards. Bearded birds often don't get wattles. And sometimes birds can not grow wattles even when a beard is not present. Your birds seems to not have a beard, in this case.

So yes, they can have wattles, or not. There are quite a few comb types as well, generally, pea combs are smaller than single combs. So yes, there is also a size variation in that.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Thanks. I just last week started thing it was a rooster. That was after I heard the crow and realized it was growing tail feathers. I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow. Will it grow spurs and wattles or does that depend on the breed?

It appears to already have wattles. And yes, he’ll grow spurs.

 

[Lornajoyce58]

Depends on the breed(s). He looks like an EE to me. EEs tend to get pea combs and beards. Bearded birds often don't get wattles. And sometimes birds can not grow wattles even when a beard is not present. Your birds seems to not have a beard, in this case.

So yes, they can have wattles, or not. There are quite a few comb types as well, generally, pea combs are smaller than single combs. So yes, there is also a size variation in that.

Thanks. Do I need to be concerned about the feed? Is layer feed bad for it?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Thanks. Do I need to be concerned about the feed? Is layer feed bad for it?

Roosters don’t need the extra calcium in layer feed..
I’d recommend buying All Flock feed and then offering oyster shell on the side.