Need help with mystery crower - Buff Orpington or Black Australorp

[swmalone]

I have had then for about 16 and a half weeks. I picked up all three at the feed store as day old chicks, or supposed day old chicks, they were all tiny little fluff balls. The one that is in the middle of the pic of all three is the sex link, and I'm pretty sure she is my layer. I have been out there all morning and she has been up in the coop struggling to lay an egg. The first egg I got yesterday was a weird soft shell thing that was actually two eggs attached together. I posed pics of the buff a bit over a week ago and most of the people that responded then thought she was a hen.

With all that said I have a hell of a time getting pics of the australorp, it is hard to get a good picture of her being so dark, and she runs away. She is the quietest of my bunch at least when I can see them. The one making the most racket when I can see them in the buff, but it is all these little bawk bawk and what sounds like the egg song. I just wish I could get whichever did the crowing to do it in front of me. As long as it is just that once in the morning I won't get rid of the bird until I know for sure one way or another if it is a roo or a hen. If it starts to crow all through the day I will have to get rid of it no matter what sex it is.

Why can't the darn chickens have their sex organs on the outside like the rest of us. It sure would make things a lot easier. I will try to trick the australorp into posing for me and if I can get decent pics I will post more. So do roosters ever sing the egg song? Like I said that is something else that made me think that the buff is a pullet.

Thanks for all of the input, but I think it is still a mystery from all the responses so far.

 

[MinnerBuckwheat]

I would say the buff then. I don't think it's old enough to have all of the feathering of a roo yet. That's just my opinion though. I have a 20 week BO hen, and her comb is about 1/3 the size of yours.

 

[swmalone]

I got a response on my initial post asking if the buff was a pullet or cockerel from someone with buffs showing me a 12 week old buff pullet with a comb about the size of mine. I might be in denial, we really don't want to have to get rid of the buff. My original post about just the buff had me feeling all warm and fuzzy because all but one of the responses thought pullet, now I have to re-evaluate. I still really want to catch it in the act of crowing. Like I mentioned it is only in the morning for just a little bit and then that is it. The way my coop is designed it is impossible for me to tell which it is unless they are in the run and of course they never do it in the run. I think they are worried if I see them crow it will be shipped off to my nephew to add to his flock or off to freezer camp.

 

[swmalone]

Oh and in response to the question asking if the black australorps comb was straight it is. It is really small still, the thing with her/him is that I can't tell if those are cockerel saddle feathers. I have researched online and to me the australorp has saddle feathers that appear more rooish than the buff, but I am a first time chicken owner, other than when growing up and raising meat birds. Of course when I lived out there we could care less if it was male or female because we lived in the country, now I'm right in the middle of town. It is a rural town so I can hope for tolerance, but I have my doubts I would get it.

 

[Alabama ee]

Sometimes you can have a crowing hen... Strange, but it happens sometimes when there is no roo.

 

[technodoll]

That buff orp is 100% girl, at that age with those feathers.

Some just have a bigger comb & wattle set than others - she might be close to laying, too.

Are you *sure* one of your 3 is crowing?

 

[allieloveschickens]

I think your buff is a hen, you may just have a crowing girl- it does happen!

 

[MinnerBuckwheat]

This is a pic of my buff pullet at about 19 weeks old.

 

[swmalone]

I am sure I heard what sounded like a not fully developed crow. I have heard it a couple of times but only in the morning right when I open the coop to let them down into the run. It only happens a couple of times and I can never see who it is because they never do it once they come into the run.

I know chickens all develop at different rates even within a breed, so I'm trying not to rely on just comb size as an indication of the sex.

 

[dsrapunzel]

Your buff is a hen

Is there anyone around you that has a rooster? We have had a hen that has crowed, maybe yours has picked it up

Just a thought

In the first pic looks like there might be some shiny hackle and sickle feathers coming in on your Black Australorp