My hen is crowing

[aart]

But given the size and already waddle, I'm afraid it probably won't be the case. But what do you think it is?

Not sure what breed, but pretty sure it's male.

@jolenesdad got any idea what breed this bird is?
Pic is in this post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-hen-is-crowing.1329580/#post-21698025

 

[CalBickieMomma]

I’d say wait and see what happens. One of my Buff Orpington pullets turned out to be a cockerel (they’re still only 12 weeks old), and I was concerned about him being in with my Polish girls (they will only be 4-5 lbs and he’ll be 6-8 lbs if not more).

But as someone pointed out in one of my posts about the size difference, hens tend to be smaller than the roos in their own breed, so I’m just going to wait and see how he is with them and hope nothing terrible happens (years before I had a Rhode Island Red hen receive a bad back and side laceration the ended up killing her, and I always assumed it was caused by my RIR roo (because my coop and run is virtually predator proof).

The boys lived separately from the girls after that. BUT that was most likely a freak accident. Having lost chickens over the years in so many crazy ways has made me paranoid. I’d say hope for the best but plan for the worst .

 

[Saaniya]

I am not 100% sure what it is lol it was definitely crowing, but DO they copy cat? Bc every morning have neighboring roosters from every side of the area. It does dominate, but shoot, it NEEDS more food than the others lol. My neighbor has had several and she actually brought it to my attention - "you know that's a male, right?" And a week later it crowed. So idk. I guess we'll see if national geographic stuff starts happening. Hopefully i see it before my 2 and 4yr olds

Yeah chickens do copy crowing I personally see hens crowing ..
But u keep looking for characteristics maybe u having a baby too lol

 

[MrsElliott]

Yeah chickens do copy crowing I personally see hens crowing ..
But u keep looking for characteristics maybe u having a baby too lol

So far everyone that has seen it in person is saying rooster. Who knows. It doesn't have a rooster tail, to me, but that doesn't mean anything. I have no idea, these are my first birds. I thought the feed store knew what they were talking about when we bought them, but they were just as clueless as me. They referred me to a poster on the wall and said "it looks like an Orpington" well...no. lol no it doesn't, not now anyway. I thought they'd get like a shipping paper at least, like "10 male 10 female- breed: xyz" or that they've sold enough to have somewhat idea as to what is what.
In reality, it doesn't matter. We love our little chickens and as long as we get eggs from most of them, that's fine. We talked about getting a rooster later on to kinda keep the flock going as they get old and die off. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'm more disappointed at the breed than the sex, only bc regardless of male or female, i know this huge chicken won't have as long of a life as the others. It's already waddling and it looks a little painful for it to get around.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

It's definitely a cockerel but the breed is a little strange. I too thought it doesn't look as round bodied as cornish crosses usually do, but maybe it is still young. Also you haven't been intentionally feeding it as much as possible to make it grow faster like some do.

Its a shame you got the wrong breed because yes these types of chickens tend to not live very long, but they can live happy lives with some special care.

As for him hurting your pullets, only time will tell how aggressive and frequent he is with mating. I've personally seen roosters mate hens half their size and weight without issue but they were very gentle roosters.

Also pullets and hens can and do crow sometimes, but it is quite rare and I believe it is caused by hormonal imbalance and/or ovary dysfunction. But your chicken's comb and wattles are too large at that age to be anything other than male.

 

[MrsElliott]

It's definitely a cockerel but the breed is a little strange. I too thought it doesn't look as round bodied as cornish crosses usually do, but maybe it is still young. Also you haven't been intentionally feeding it as much as possible to make it grow faster like some do.

Its a shame you got the wrong breed because yes these types of chickens tend to not live very long, but they can live happy lives with some special care.

As for him hurting your pullets, only time will tell how aggressive and frequent he is with mating. I've personally seen roosters mate hens half their size and weight without issue but they were very gentle roosters.

Also pullets and hens can and do crow sometimes, but it is quite rare and I believe it is caused by hormonal imbalance and/or ovary dysfunction. But your chicken's comb and wattles are too large at that age to be anything other than male.

Yeah, we're just feeding it regular laying mash. They free range all day and eats whatever is in the yard, however, today he got into the food and sat there and ate like a glutton. I mean...it was A LOT before i found him. So we'll see what happens. His fat self hasn't moved much and has poop allllll the poop.

 

[Folly's place]

Layer feed is meant for smaller breed hens who are actually producing eggs, and nobody else. Young birds, males, hens and pullets not actively laying eggs, and molting birds should have an all flock or grower feed, lower in calcium and higher in protein than most layer feeds.
Mary

 

[MrsElliott]

Layer feed is meant for smaller breed hens who are actually producing eggs, and nobody else. Young birds, males, hens and pullets not actively laying eggs, and molting birds should have an all flock or grower feed, lower in calcium and higher in protein than most layer feeds.
Mary

The ppl at the feed store said whatever it is that i have is what we needed for our birds. I went in clueless when we ran out of chick starter, told them how old our birds are and they sold me this stuff, said it was what we need. At the time, the one hadn't started crowing and actually hasn't crowed since Sunday. I have no idea, I'm relying on the store we bought them from for my info. So now what lol

 

[lomine]

That doesn't look like any CX I've ever seen. Not only is it small for a 3 month old CX, it looks to be fully feathered. CX don't put as much protein into growing feathers so they tend to look kind of ragged.

I'm wondering if maybe it's a Leghorn with a leg injury/deformity.

 

[keesmom]

Could be one of the slow grow Cornish X strains.