Need help with mystery crower - Buff Orpington or Black Australorp

[swmalone]

Ok I received my first egg yesterday. I thought it was from my buff orpington who has very a very large comb and waddles. Then this morning when I went to open up the coop I hear crowing, but I couldn't see who was doing it, then when they came out into the run whoever it wasn't didn't do it anymore. I also peaked in the coop this morning and it looks like it might be the sex link that laid the egg. She was nesting where I found the egg yesterday.

I have a buff orpington, a black australorp, and a black sex link. They are all a bit over 16 weeks old. I was really hoping to have all females, and maybe one is doing a hen crow, but it sure sounds like the start of a real crow.

I am attaching pictures please help. I live in town and want to be a good neighbor, I just don't want to get rid of a chicken if it is a female.

Here is the australorp, it is so hard to get a good picture of them.

Here is the buff

Here is a picture of all three, in this pick the black one with the larger comb is the sex link.

 

[MinnerBuckwheat]

Your buff is the culprit.

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

I agree. Larger comb.

 

[swmalone]

I posted some other pictures of the buff a week or so ago asking because of how large the comb is, but a lot of people said that the saddle feathers indicated that it was a pullet. That is our favorite one, don't want to have to get rid of her, especially if she is a hen. Here are a couple more pictures of the buff. The buff got really loud in the last couple weeks and I can see her when she sings what sounds like the egg song down in the run. If only the culprit would crow in front of me.

 

[dinahmoe]

can you post more pics of each one from the side.
i don't see any saddle feathers or tail feathers on the buff to indicate roo but it has rooish hackles.i don't think it is the buff.
does the first black picture have a straight comb?it has the looking of more saddle feathers.
with all this said,i have been wrong before.lol

 

[Sandy16]

Um.....I believe that your buff is a roo.

I will admit that our buff hens are LOUD and sometimes it sounds like they are trying to crow back to the roo down the street, but at more than a year old, neither one has a comb as big as yours. The comb and wattles are the reason that I say roo....I don't see saddle feathers though. Hopefully I'm wrong!!

 

[dinahmoe]

it does have a big comb for 4 months old .this is why i never get rid of anything i want till it eithers lays or crows.
if your luck is like mine and its your favorite,then its probably a roo.

are you sure of the age on these guys?they are some big birds for 4 months old and laying already.i would guess the sexlink is laying this early.

 

[HEChicken]

I guess I'll be the lone dissenter but the Buff does not look like a roo to me. BO roos tend to have different coloration than hens and the coloration on this one is hennish. Also the tail, saddle and hackle feathers all look pretty hennish. In the picture of all three of them, there are two black chooks and the one in the middle has quite red comb but I can't see much of the rest. My guess is that either that is your culprit or you have a crowing hen.

 

[MinnerBuckwheat]

Perhaps a good question would be: How old is this chicken??

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I agree with HEChicken, the buff is not a roo. Here is a pic of my old Buff who had a large comb as well. In her younger days, her comb and wattles were as red as yours. She was a great layer. I never go by just comb size to determine the sex. It has to have saddle and pointed hackle feathers as well.