Pullet or Cockrel??

[LizCar]

Hi, I am sure posts like this are posted all of the time, and I apologize. I tried to do my research first so I didn't have to ask, but my results were confusing. I bought some "bantam" chicks, straight run, don't know exact breeds, they were a day old and now are about 4 months old. One I know for sure is a hen. She appears to be a black ameraucana bantam. Another is really small and adorable, and I think is a rooster as he has some thin, very pointed saddle feathers coming in and is quite feisty. The third is the one pictured and the one who confuses me. I have thought it was a rooster for awhile, it has a lot of really fancy, long feathers around it's neck. Quite a fancy tail that has some feathers the kind of bow over. So I was reading about the saddle feathers, how hens have rounded and roos have pointy. So I take a look, it has a LOT of saddle feathers and they are long and very fancy but they are VERY wide and rounded, not pointy. But this chicken does a half-A crow in the mornings, another reason I thought it was roo. Will a hen crow? Will a rooster EVER had rounded saddle feathers? It has no comb to judge. You can't see the saddle feathers in this pic so you just have to go by my description. My instincts tell me roo, except the confusing, wide rounded saddle feathers... :/

**Ignore the cereal box lol, my friend is raising big meat chicks and wanted to know how big my chicks were compared to hers so I had to give her some kind of comparison lol.**

 

[Hanna8]

Looks like a roo to me. The cape and saddle feathers look pointy to me and the way the saddle feathers spill over his sides is also a good indicator of a roo. Some hens crow, but it isn't very common. He's probably still trying to work out how to crow. Some roos take a while to learn.

 

[donrae]

First off, don't apologize for posting this! Some of spend far too much time on this board looking for new posts to answer

Second, that appears to be a handsome young rooster. The splashy coloring, I can see hackle feathers, and the fact that he's crowing all mean male.

Hens can crow, but not young birds of this age. Older, dominant hens, usually with some hormonal imbalance, can crow. Young pullets won't.

This pic doesn't show the saddle area well, but I think I can see some saddle feathers there. But definitely male.

 

[Wyandottes7]

You have a cockerel. He looks like a bantam Easter Egger. The reasons why I think that he is a male is the red comb (his comb may be small, but its red for his age), the red coloring on the wings (red on the wings is almost a sure sign of a male chicken), the splotchy coloring (In Easter Eggers especially, males tend to have large blotches of coloring, instead of being an even shade), and the hackle feathers.

Hens rarely crow. Young hens to not usually crow--if any hen is going to crow, it will happen when she is older, or if she is very dominant. So, another sign that you have a rooster is that he is crowing. He'll get better at crowing as he ages.

Yes, males can have blunt/rounded hackle feathers, but it isn't very common. They will only be feathered like this if they are a hen feathered breed. The only hen-feathered breed is the Sebright bantam.

 

[BantamLover21]

You have a cockerel. He looks like a bantam Easter Egger. The reasons why I think that he is a male is the red comb (his comb may be small, but its red for his age), the red coloring on the wings (red on the wings is almost a sure sign of a male chicken), the splotchy coloring (In Easter Eggers especially, males tend to have large blotches of coloring, instead of being an even shade), and the hackle feathers.

Hens rarely crow. Young hens to not usually crow--if any hen is going to crow, it will happen when she is older, or if she is very dominant. So, another sign that you have a rooster is that he is crowing. He'll get better at crowing as he ages.

Yes, males can have blunt/rounded hackle feathers, but it isn't very common. They will only be feathered like this if they are a hen feathered breed. The only hen-feathered breed is the Sebright bantam.

X2

 

[LizCar]

Thanks everyone, I also think he is a roo so it is good that you all think so too, is it a problem to have to roos that were raised together?

 

[aoxa]

Thanks everyone, I also think he is a roo so it is good that you all think so too, is it a problem to have to roos that were raised together?

Nope, they should be fine as long as they have enough girls to share With bantams, six girls per boy should do it.