One Chicken Keeps her Tail Held High

[ejtalbert]

I have a 10 week old flock. 2 barred rocks, 2 silver laced wyandottes, and 1 starlight green egger.
One of my chickens is odd, compared to the rest. She always has her tail propped up high, and she likes to sleep on her side.
She seems to have some sort of authority over the rest of the chickens, they always follow her where she goes.
I bought 5 pullets, but I am worried I might have gotten a roo.
Can anyone explain, please?
(the photo of her stretching out is from about 3 weeks ago, she still does it, but I don't have a more recent shot)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Looks male to me. The side resting is just sun bathing.

 

[ejtalbert]

Looks male to me. The side resting is just sun bathing.

Uh oh! Well, we love him/her so much, so we won’t be getting rid of him/her.... but is there a way we can keep a roo from fertilizing all the eggs?? I’m still new at this, aha, I don’t really know how that works.

 

[ejtalbert]

Here’s another better quality picture:

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Fertile eggs are just as edible as non fertile and the embryo doesn’t start growing until it’s been sat on or in an incubator for a bit. If you crack open a fertile egg you may not even know it’s fertile, sometimes they have a little bulls-eye or a blood spot on the yolk but we rarely see anything liek that and we have three roosters so our eggs are definitely fertile.(we’ve also had a hatch recently with 100% fertility)

 

[ejtalbert]

Fertile eggs are just as edible as non fertile and the embryo doesn’t start growing until it’s been sat on or in an incubator for a bit. If you crack open a fertile egg you may not even know it’s fertile, sometimes they have a little bulls-eye or a blood spot on the yolk but we rarely see anything liek that and we have three roosters so our eggs are definitely fertile.(we’ve also had a hatch recently with 100% fertility)

Oh, good! Thank you! One more question, (sorry) will the hens become broody with a male around? Or is there no obvious downside other than one less chicken’s eggs?

 

[Sammjochan]

Oh, good! Thank you! One more question, (sorry) will the hens become broody with a male around? Or is there no obvious downside other than one less chicken’s eggs?

The hens wont necessarily become broody just because there is a rooster around..our hens have had a rooster around their while lifes, but we only have one or 2 (our silkies) that become broody. So I wouldn't worry to much. And on the bright side, if you decide you would like to hatch chicks from your own flock you can!

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

No they won’t. If you leave the eggs in the nesting box then a hen might go broody but a rooster shouldnt cause that. Barred rocks are a heritage breed so they a fairly broody breed. You’ll just be getting one less egg laying bird, handle him lots to make sure he’ll be a friendly guy!

 

[ejtalbert]

No they won’t. If you leave the eggs in the nesting box then a hen might go broody but a rooster shouldnt cause that. Barred rocks are a heritage breed so they a fairly broody breed. You’ll just be getting one less egg laying bird, handle him lots to make sure he’ll be a friendly guy!

Awesome! Thank you so much. Yes, he is a good roo. Loves to run up close to use and peck at our feet.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Of course! Everyone loves a good rooster success story!