Is my rooster really a hen?

[schatze]

Casper is almost 6 months old. Up until last month he was developing like his brothers who are very grand looking, and both of them have started to crow.

Casper is smaller than they are but bigger than his sisters. He acts more like the hens but doesn't hang out with anyone.

I have 2 other small roosters who were completely raised by their mother. They're a week older than my other young birds but look younger and smaller. If not for their changing coloring, I'd never believe they were roosters. Is this common for roosters at the bottom of the pecking order?

My main question, is Casper really a hen? Father is a white favorelle and mother is an ameraucana. Casper has deformed feet with 4.5 toes per foot. The 5th toes are more fused to the 4th.

 

[KeyFlock]

Casper looks like a pretty hen to me, but you might want to rely more on the experts

 

[keesmom]

Casper is a pullet.

 

[Michael OShay]

Casper is an Easter Egger pullet. )

 

[donrae]

Casper looks like a pullet getting ready to lay.

 

[drumstick diva]

Casper is a girl

 

[schatze]

Thanks, everyone. Hopefully she'll start laying soon. She's the only chicken I have that looks like the father.

She's still considered an easter egger even though only one parent is an ameraucana? I am curious as to what color eggs she'll lay.

 

[Michael OShay]

Thanks, everyone. Hopefully she'll start laying soon. She's the only chicken I have that looks like the father.

She's still considered an easter egger even though only one parent is an ameraucana? I am curious as to what color eggs she'll lay.

You're welcome. If the parent is a true Ameraucana (a blue egg layer), then Casper is definitely an Easter Egger as EEs are hybrids produced by crossing blue egg layers with brown egg layers to produce offspring that lay eggs in colors other than just blue (usually some shade of green). However, it Casper's parent is actually an Easter Egger, then whether or not Casper is an Easter Egger depends partly on how you define an Easter Egger. Since EEs are hybrids and there are no SOP standards for them, BYC members disagree on whether some birds are actually EEs or just mixed breeds. Casper looks like an Easter Egger with that pea comb, however the Ameraucana Breeders Association (which is the closest thing out there to an authoritative body on EEs) defines an Easter Egger as any bird that carries the blue egg gene but does not meet the SOP standards for Ameraucanas. So according to the ABA's definition of an EE, Casper will only be an Easter Egger if she carries the blue egg gene (if she lays eggs that are some shade of blue or green). According to the ABA, if her eggs are some shade of brown, then she is just a mixed breed and not an Easter Egger. That being the case you will just have to wait until she lays to know for sure.

 

[schatze]

According to another on here, her mother is a poor quality blue wheaten ameraucana.

Casper did lay her first egg today! It has a slightly greenish tint to it compared to her mother's, but I think it would still be considered more blue than green. She seemed very proud of it.

 

[donrae]

What a beautiful shade! congrats.