New to chickens and have a ?????

[Egrant97]

Hello everyone!! Well my wife and I are in the Air Force and just got stationed in Italy. The house we rented came with two chickens. The landlord asked us if we wanted to keep them or have him get rid of them. We are animal lovers and thought it would be cool to have chickens with the bonus of getting some eggs. We just got the key to the house, and when we checked on the chickens we found our first two eggs. This did bring a couple questions up. One of the chickens looks like it might be a rooster, so here is my questions. Is there a chance we will crack an egg and find something we do not want to find. My wife would be DEVISTATED and never eat and egg again!!!!

The white one was laying on the eggs, and the brown guy is the one in question.

No laughing as you read this!! LOL, ok you can laugh at us city folks!!!

 

[kiplingchick]

I *think* you have 2 hens but I am not certain.
It takes 21 days for a chick to develop inside an egg, and will only develop is the hen is sitting consistently on the eggs, only taking short breaks to eat, drink and poop. Temperature is crucial to egg development.
Looks like you have a good source of fresh eggs. Enjoy!
And feel free to ask away. This has been my main source of chicken raising info!

 

[Egrant97]

Great news!!! thanks you. We thought because he has the "mohawk looking thing" he was a rooster!

 

[kiplingchick]

That is called a comb. Hens and Roos both have combs, although more pronounced on roos. There are also different types of combs. Try posting the picture under the forum for identifying breeds and genders. Again, I'm still a novice, but I'm leaning toward hen!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Those are both hens. Also, they are both laying because you got two eggs. A hen will almost always lay only one egg per day. The white hen, which looks like a Columbian Wyandotte, will probably lay 5 eggs or so a week. The red one, which looks like a Red Sex Link (a hybrid chicken that you can tell what sex it is at hatch) will lay even better, sometimes 6-7 eggs a week.

 

[A HappyHenLover]

Naw, roosters have a huge "mohawk" on their heads and their tail feathers are up alot more.

 

[A HappyHenLover]

Those are both hens. Also, they are both laying because you got two eggs. A hen will almost always lay only one egg per day. The white hen, which looks like a Columbian Wyandotte, will probably lay 5 eggs or so a week. The red one, which looks like a Red Sex Link (a hybrid chicken that you can tell what sex it is at hatch) will lay even better, sometimes 6-7 eggs a week.

I have the red sex links but I call them Red Stars.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I have the red sex links but I call them Red Stars.

Red Stars are one "brand" of Red Sex Link. Other name include ISA Brown, Golden Buff, etc. It depends on the hatchery where you bought your chicks. They are all proprietary but similar hybrids.