is she is or is she ain't a hen?

[JodyRB]

This is my first experience with chickens, and I'm loving it. I got four chicks, one of which is a speckled Sussex. They're now just over 4 months old, and I've begun to wonder about her (him?). She's always been the most assertive, and now her tail feathers look more like a rooster's, and she has a small nubbin on each leg where spurs would be. The feathers on her back look more like a rooster's feathers, too. She has also been crowing, or something like it. I'm not sure now whether I've got a cockerel or just a really

butch pullet. Any help out there?

 

[Stiggy]

Its Boy look at his feathering, tail rump and pointy saddle feathers. And if he is crowing... Yes you have a Boy

 

[Rocky Rhodes]

I know you are joking, right? A rooster doesn't lay eggs just as a hen doesn't crow. A young male or "cockerel" will begin crowing and sound like a sick teenage boy trying to sing.

You have a beautiful cockerel there... but I think you already knew that.

 

[Rocky Rhodes]

Oh, By the way...

Welcome to BYC, from the great state of Georgia!!

 

[donrae]

You have a pretty cockerel.

 

[JodyRB]

Thanks, everyone. I did have my suspicions, but I hadn't been able to find info on the developmental schedule for cockerels. Well, that's why I got four chicks, because I really only need three for egg production. He'll have to get a new name, though! Since they spend a large portion of their time free ranging on my 5 acres, having a rooster to protect them will be a good thing, and he does have a nice personality. He even sits on my lap and lets me preen his neck feathers!