Paranoid that I have a rooster - pics

[shandea]

Hi Chicken Experts!

I am really paranoid since I live in the city with 2 houses to the side and one to the back of us with... oh... 30 feet between us all.

I'm getting quite attached to my chickies, especially the one that I'm starting to think is a rooster. If he is, I have to find another home quickly before I will have to grieve!

The reason I think this is because this one, Henrietta, is much bigger than the others and also has what I guess one might call tail feathers. Said bird also is quite gutsy, trying to escape and daring to hop onto my hand and walk up my arm, while the other still scatter.

See the pics and tell me what you think. Thanks!

Henrietta's the one to the right in the foreground:

The one in question is the one that is in the middle of most of the shots. Notice how much bigger he/she is? And the tail feathers?

Notice too that Henry/Henrietta has no more of the fuzzy, furry feathers, like the others. Do some just mature more quickly?

Here's a face shot on the far left...

 

[justusnak]

Shandea......how old are they? They are sooo cute!

Its really hard to tell....but you might be right. Talk to your nabors....maybe you can "bribe" them with free eggs once in a while...

Or...if your nabors are friendly with you...maybe tell them, " If you dont get annoyed with my rooster crowing, maybe in a year or so, I can hatch some babies out for you too!"

Good luck with the little ones, they sure are cute!!

 

[shandea]

They are 3 1/2 weeks. Gosh, I wanted to hear, "Oh no, that's definitely not a rooster! You're fine." But you think it may actually be.

There really is no way I could keep it if it's a rooster. I'm in the city limits and hens are surprisingly OK here, but no roosters. And the whole niehgborhood of 120 houses or so would hear!

But thanks for your input. Hopefully she's just a week older or so?

Not sure if you saw the thread, but I'm the one who posted about not being able to 'break through' and they were so scared of me. I was wondering if I had made a mistake. Well, in the last couple of days at least two of them have bonded with me, and it's awesome.

 

[speckledhen]

First of all, the ones with the longest tail feathers first are usually the GIRLS! Absolute fact there. The ones slow to feather in on the tail and back are almost always boys. It's too early to tell for me, but it doesn't look particularly roo-ish to me right now. Also, the confidence I usually see in the girls more than the boys at first, so don't panic just yet! And what breed is this?

 

[shandea]

Silver laced wyandottes. You just gave me hope... thanks!

 

[speckledhen]

Wow, I have three SLW's myself, hens now over a year old. The white under the chin area was throwing me some-never saw that much solid white under the chin on that breed. I don't want to give you false hope, but if I have a chick that is bob-tailed, I usually look at it closely because I want to weed out the roosters fast. Post pictures in a week or two again and maybe some of us will be better able to tell. Bet it's a pullet.