MY 27 WEEK OLD HEN STARTED CROWING THIS MORNING!!

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FowlMomma80

FowlMomma80

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Hello. I am new to this site and new to keeping chickens. I have a small backyard flock that I purchased from a poultry farm back in April. Two barred rock, four Easter Eggers, and two Black Sex links. I was assured they were all girls by the poultry farmer I bought them from, but one of my barred rocks turned out to be a surprise rooster. Okay. That's fine. We need his protection since we live in an area with a LOT of hawks. He does a great job protecting his girls. However, my other barred rock hen .... started crowing this morning!! WHY?! I am pretty sure she is a hen! When comparing my two barred rocks side by side, you can tell who the rooster is. His comb and waddle are MUCH bigger and more vibrant in color, plus he crows many times throughout the day and has been ever since he was around 18 weeks old, and he regularly mates with the other hens. However, he does not mate with my other barred rock. She IS the hen at the top of the pecking order and acts like a hen. I have never observed her trying to mate with any of the other hens or display any other rooster traits other than the crowing that started this morning. I have read that hens will sometimes crow if there is no rooster present ... but I have a rooster. So why is she suddenly crowing at 27 weeks?! I am so confused! Any help you can give me would be MUCH appreciated!
 
Greetings from Kansas, FowlMomma, and :welcome. Pleased you joined us. Crowing hens are not common but not unheard of. Though I had heard that it happens most often when there isn't a rooster around. Best way for a definitive answer is to observe her in the nest box laying an egg. Do you ever get a day when you are sure ALL your hens layed an egg? That would tell you. Or, post a pic of her/him in this link https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this
The folks that patrol that thread are good at gender determination. Hoping for a hen! Best wishes.
 
Here are two pictures of my barred rocks (I hope they upload properly). They are the same age - 27 weeks and 2 days. My hens *just* started laying last week. Since then, 4 have been laying regularly and a 5th one started laying yesterday. My barred rock hen has not laid yet. I read that sometimes when hens start crowing, they will stop laying, buy she hadn't laid yet....this is just a hot mess. lol
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In the top picture, she is the chicken closest to the camera. In second picture, the rooster is closest to the camera. There is a definite difference in comb and wattle between the two as is showcased in the second picture.
 
Are you sure? The crowing just started today and it wasn't even comparable to my rooster's crowing. It was more like a sad, gravely morning dove. Like I said before, they are the same age. Since I am still relatively new to this, I have questions! If they are both cockerels of the same age, why is the comb and wattle bigger on one than the other? Why has one cockerel behaved exactly as a rooster should, and the other one like a hen? Why has it taken 27 weeks for one of them to crow? Up until now he/she has been making hen noises! Why have I not seen both of them mating with my hens? Is there a "pecking order" (for lack of a better term) among roosters?
 

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