I'm curious - how old would you guess this girl is? Update Post #32

[HEChicken]

I hatched this pullet so I know down to the day EXACTLY how old she is. Yet every time I look at her I am surprised by how, um, mature she looks for her age. Her sisters, who hatched the same day look every day their age. In other words, they look like they won't lay for quite some time yet!

Okay, okay, I'll let you in on it - she is only 16 weeks old! I've never had one as red and developed in the comb and wattles as this one is at this age. What do you think? Will she start to lay earlier than average?

 

[HEChicken]

Here she is with her two sisters who as you can see still have quite a bit of maturing to do...

 

[Momagain1]

Quote:
I'm sorry; but that looks like a Roo to me..

My BA hens are 13 wks and dont look ANYTHING like that..

 

[debilorrah]

Roo. Too red, wattles, the down turn in the tail feathers.....

 

[HEChicken]

I've had quite a few roos and I'll eat my words if I'm wrong but this is a HEN. I hatched a roo along with these three and it was really obvious he was a roo from the time he was 2 weeks old. His comb and wattles were MUCH larger and he crowed early too. When I posted pics of these guys at 8 weeks (when she already had very red comb/wattles the consensus was 100% that she is a hen). The tail feathers are not typical of rooster feathers at all, but very typical of BA hens (I don't know the parentage of this one and do know the father was a RIR but suspect the mother was a BA). Also, she does not have the pointy saddle/hackle feathers that a 16-week-old roo would have. Nope folks, this one is a hen, no doubt in my mind, or DH's either, and he is usually the first one to suspect the males

 

[Laurajean]

Quote:
I agree with that exactly. I'm by no means an expert, but I thought Roo as soon as I saw "her" for the same reasons Debi mentioned.

 

[debilorrah]

Yeah I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but I still think it's a roo. If it lays an egg, I'll eat some chocolate.

 

[Laurajean]

Quote:
Well THAT'S a win-win, you really got yourself covered here Deb!

 

[Momagain1]

Quote:
HAHA..thats nothing...lol...for her!

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Well THAT'S a win-win, you really got yourself covered here Deb!

I never said I was STUPID!