Good Morning. Our first group of chickens turn 16 weeks in a couple of days, and we believe that one of them is a rooster and has started to try to crow. In July, we ordered three hens from a mail order company and they sent four (so we suspect the fourth is a rooster). Our city allows up to 20 Hens in your backyard but NO Rosters and we have to keep the peace with the neighbors. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we may be able to find a foster home if we know the breed.
They all look like typical brown layers to me. I don't think any look like boys. Are your other hens all certified females?
Is the brown and white hen in all the pictures the one that you are questoining? They are all hens and the brown and white one is a Red Sex Link, they are sex linked which means that you can tell their gender at hatching by their feather coloring. Roosters are white with reddish brown on the shoulders, wings, and back and they have light creamish feathers around the neck, tail, and saddle feathers. Hens are brownish red with white specks on their necks and other parts of their body. The crowing you heard could be an alarm or "lost" bawk which can be long and stretched sounding, kind of like a rooster. Sometimes in aflock with no rooster the lead hen will take the position of a rooster, which would mean crowing (they won't exactly sound like a real rooster's crow,but it's similar), stop laying eggs, and grow more male characteristics. Hope this helps.
As others have said, that brown and white one is a red sexlink pullet. I think she will be ready to lay in about a month if the days are long enough. The EE looks girly too. I can't tell if the third one is a different or the same EE and I see a hint of a black tail/chicken. Could you get clear pictures of the other 3 birds to make sure none of them are boys?
So far I see a red sex link female and an Easter egger (probably sold as an ameriucana) female. Pics of the rest would help.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I was wondering about the brown and white one and am very relieved that it is a hen and we will not have to get rid of her (or worse). The other three I am certain are what we ordered (two Easter Eggers and a Black Austrolorpe female). Verr67, This morning when we heard what sounded like crowing could have been the hens getting rowdy because of a loose dog was harassing them through the fence. This site has been an invaluable source of information, and I thank all of you for helping us out.
