Meet Peanut (my it chicken)

[FarmGirlForLife]

This is Peanut he/she is a seven month old Buff Brahma. I cannot keep it with the roosters because they all try to ride him/her I cannot keep him/her with the hens because she/he tries to ride them and is so much bigger I think she would unintentionally hurt them when trying to mate with them. Do you think Peanut will wind up more like a male or a female? We haven't seen Peanut crow though.

Here's Peanut with a fellow cochin

 

[shmccarthy]

Peanut is most definitely a boy. See how the feathers on his back at the base of the tail are skinny and pointed at the end? That's a sure fire way to tell if an older chook is a boy. peanut probably hasn't crowed and gets picked on because he's at the bottom of the pecking order with the other boys. He's probably trying to stay under the radar, so the other boys won't pick on him as much.

 

[donrae]

Peanut is a rooster. If he's trying to mate hens, he's not at all confused about his gender.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

You mean the saddle feathers? Yeah, that's what made us think that Peanut was a rooster, but then you look at his face and his lack of comb/wattles which says hen. This is my first time with Brahmas, I don't know if the roosters are shorter and thicker as well as the hens because if you compare Peanut to the cochin besides him? Peanut looks more like a hen while Conrad (the black cochin) actually looks like a rooster. Even Bartholomew (the gold laced Wyandotte) in the back of the picture is leggier than Peanut. The pictures were taken while peanut was out of protective custody but the bullying/riding got so bad, we had to put Peanut into a separate pen. In the greenhouse where everybody is, everyone crows. From the overgrown CornishX that gets to play head honcho to the poor little golden laced Polish roosters who are the most submissive roosters you will ever meet. Except for Peanut. So even if Peanut isn't confused about what gender it is, we are

. If Peanut is a rooster, he would be a good one for somebody that wanted to sneak a rooster into town because of the no crowing thing.

 

[shmccarthy]

Yes. If there are saddle feathers present that are pointed instead of rounded, you have a boy. He may be a bit slower to mature, which is why his face doesn't look as masculine. I can say that without a doubt that he is a boy though.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

Hmm, I wonder if he will ever get a comb and wattles then. He wouldn't be a very good subject for breeding then, would he? We always called Peanut our Dinosaur chicken because of the way his head looked. Thank you both for your input.

 

[Tricoglossus]

If Peanut is a rooster, he would be a good one for somebody that wanted to sneak a rooster into town because of the no crowing thing.

I would say that the only reason he has NOT started to crow yet is because he is the lowest of the low rooster in the pecking order. If you were to take him out of that situation and put him somewhere where he was the sole rooster, he would no doubt crow his head off. No city vacations for Peanut!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Peanut is a rooster.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Peanut is a roo and that "cochin" with those long legs and rather sparse leg feathers looks more like a Langshan.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

Aha! He could be. I got a batch of fancies from Murray Mcmurray off of the rarest of the rare collections. So I have no proof of what they are.