Is this a she "Sneak Pot" or he "Sneak Pot"?

[roysnider]

We bought 3 chicks from Atwoods that came from Ideal Hatchery in TX. They were marked with wing bands for pullets. We gave one away and have 2 left. My husband saw them in the shipping box at the store and the section they were in was marked as Ancona. We began to think that one of them was a cockerel as the single comb and wattles got really big compared to the other pullet. One day we heard a crow from the box they were in and decided she was a he. He would fly out of his coop in the barn daily or nightly and run around outside. He was the only one to get out so we called him "Sneak Pot". Thought someone might be wondering on the name.
Well, the last two weeks Sneak Pot has done the hen hunch down when a rooster gets close to do his thing. Sneak Pot has even done it when we go to put our hand over him. Now, I have never seen a rooster do the Hen Squat. We are confused and not sure whether we have a pullet or a cockerel.
Here is a pic of Sneak Pot. He/she is appox. 19 weeks old Sneak Pot has been in a coop with the other ancona pullet and a Hamburg pullet. We have gotten 2 or 3 small bantam size white eggs from this coop along with 4 other larger bantam white eggs from this coop. We were thinking the eggs were coming from the Hamburg as she is several weeks older. The 4 eggs were also double yolked.
Yesterday we added 2 more pullets, Silkie and Brahma Bantam which have not started laying and are appox 19 weeks old. Today we got a white egg that is larger than our Buckeye eggs (way larger than the other eggs from the last 2 weeks).
It's all a mystery.

 

[spiritdance]

Those are some honkin' big wattles, and it looks like sickle feathers coming in in the tail ... I think you may have a young cockerel who is determined not to get his clock cleaned by the dominant roo.

 

[veganpilot]

Is she crowing or anything? You could look around her neck and look for the saddle feathers. Cockerels tend to have more pointed-shaped hackle feathers around their neck while pullets have more curved.

'She', however, looks more roo-ish to me

By the way, your chicken is really beautiful.

 

[roysnider]

Thank You. Sneak Pot makes cluck noises when ever you go to feed them. The other one has an extremely small comb and wattles compared to him. I have not heard a crow out of him lately but it might be hard to hear one when there are 87 chickens in the yard in various coops. Sneak Pot is the most vocal one in this coop and always wants to come out when you feed. We let them out yesterday and today and when he came out an older Araucana pullet went to peck him on the head and he did the hen squat immediately. We'll have to take a look at the two of them in the morning and take more pics.
If Sneak Pot is a cockerel for sure, than he will need to find a new home soon. With a single comb that flops over, he will not show well at a Poultry show and I would not want to use him for breeding either. We have too many cocks and need to reduce. If he is a pullet, then his comb is just fine and can be show.

 

[NellaBean]

She is very pretty.

 

[hcppam]

Quote:
I tend to agree.

 

[NellaBean]

Definitely a hen. C'mon guys, with a comb that large a rooster would already have some serious "Male" feathers going on.

Ancona hen.

Ancona rooster.

They are a Mediterranean breed, hence the large comb. Definitely a hen.

 

[jessleeh]

our leghorn hens at the 4h farm have combs/wattles like that too... for sure hens b/c they're laying. and their tail feathers are similar too... ??

 

[Saltysteele]

while i am not familiar to this breed, my guess would be hen, as well. those saddle feathers, though slightly ambiguous (appear to be some on the side a bit longer than on the top), are short and rounded

 

[EMAW]

Looks to me like you have an Ancona pullet. As for her escape artistry, they can be a bit flighty and like to "roam", you seem to have a free spirit on your hands. At least she gives you big white eggs after she is done exploring.