Rooster Hen

[4 ever Orpington]

You have the kind of chicken I think mine looks more like!

That’s a Buff Orpington roo!

 

[giwa]

Rooster! A picture of mine for reference.View attachment 1402687

There is quite a resemblance. How old is your cockerel? Is he mean? I don't want my bird to turn mean. Is he loud?

 

[meetthebubus]

Looks like a buff, at 3 months its always been a roo its just maturing


the transformation happens when they are older it is rare-ish but happened to my China she was like 8 months when she changed, molted and regrew roo feathers, she acts like a roo but only the outside is roo and the behaviour she doesn't mate and can't lay this is apparently super controversial on this site but a general search will show you cases of it

 

[giwa]

I don’t think it is turning into a rooster, I’d say it was a rooster all along.

That is my worry

 

[giwa]

Now S(He) just bit me on the finger while my hand was still, for no reason! Just as I was reading in another tab that Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be nice!

 

[RWise]

I had a BO rooster, had is the key word! He was not a good rooster and I think, cant prove it but think he killed a hen. He was all bloody,,,
For my part yours is already displaying bad habits,,,
That being said, I am not there to see if he is acting aggressive or curious,, My girls have picked at my toes, it's curiosity, they also untie my shoes, those laces look tasty apparently,,,
IF you think he is being aggressive then off to the pot with him!

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

Some people in my life had tried to tell me that she is more rooster-like. These people are not chicken experts so I did not take it too seriously.
But all within about the past 4 days, I've been starting to wonder... she has become kinda mean. While inside of the cage/coup she will bite my hand when I grab the food bowl or something else from the cage. She will also bite my hand when sitting next to me if I make a fast movement with my hand, especially down low by her feet. She has bitten my feet when walking past her, twice, and sometimes when I walk past her I can tell she wants to run up and bite my feet but holds herself back. It is almost like the biting is something she doesn't want to do, but that it happens spontaneously like a herding dog sometimes has issues with. She does still let me pick her up and cuddle and she likes to sit in my lap. Then this morning she was trying to crow; A strange Er-er-er that sounded like it was passing through a kazoo. And, officially today, she is trying to mount the Barred Rock pullet. She is growing at a faster rate than the Barred Rock. There have been maybe a couple other things that I just can't remember at the moment. I still do not truly know if any of these things are definitive in proving she is a rooster. I have read that a dominant hen can take on rooster characteristics in the absence of a rooster among hens, though unable to father children but I'm not sure if that is something that should have happened later than now. And after starting this thread, I found out that it is not 100% guaranteed all chicks at the store are girls...
The very few pictures I can find online of production reds do not even look like her. I can't even figure out if I have a production red!
I will post some pictures of her. These pics were taken within the past 2 or 3 days. She is about to or is sunbathing in them... she looks different now with bigger comb, earlobes and waddles than she did just 9 days ago.

P.S. She does not have spurs. There are sharp little bumps where a spur might go but the other chicken has them too.

That’s just normal rooster behavior. He’s just protecting his hens, next time he bites you, grab him by the legs and dunk him in a bucket full of cold water. After that he won’t bother you again!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Your cockerel is being a normal rooster. He's defending his food source, defending his pullet. He should be more concerned about real predators, not humans... so he's not a good cockerel, but he's definitely a boy through and through.

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

Now S(He) just bit me on the finger while my hand was still, for no reason! Just as I was reading in another tab that Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be nice!

It seems he disagrees with said article

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. As others have stated he is a Buff Orpington cockerel, and was purchased as such. Even with 'sexed' chicks there is a % of error. Upon occasion a hen with an ovarian tumor will 'transition' into a rooster, but this is not the case with your bird.