So bummed...hen crowed this morning

[mandelyn]

I had this happen too! I bought this cute little white "pullet" and several weeks later, it sprouted two long tail feathers. I was like... Oh no! A week after that, it sealed it's fate by crowing! (or trying to anyways)

 

[Outhouser]

We usually get straight run chicks and play the "Waiting Game" as we like to call it, or "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" It doesn't seem to fail though, if you have one you really like, it will end up a rooster. Unfortunately it sounds like you won't be able to keep it. But that's part of the fun. I have had hens that would crow as well, and they tend to be very protective of their flock too, very motherly.

 

[oesdog]

Oh I so feel your pain!!!!!!!!!!

My darlings were hand hatched and over the weeks did the roo waiting game. We also had 4 chicks in the yard under a hen. Out there we pegged the first one as a roo - called him Duck because he looked like our naighbours Mallard ducklings. ( He did turn into a cuckoo maran roo boy. ) another was a beautiful yellow chick who developed to have the colouring of an owl. HE/she was so pretty. Then there was two manky black things no one warmed to!!! Well turned out we were right with the first chick he was a roo - the yellow one turned out to be a roo two! UGH! The two hand reared ones we loved also turned out to be both boys

The only girls we got were yea - the two black ugly looking things!!!! Well they grew up into two lovely laying hens who we call Mable and Betty but we still miss the roo boys. The owl looking pretty one turned into a Red sussex very randy roo boy hes been gone since January 1st and I still have fertalised eggs ? The two hand hatched we would say just our luck these will be boys? The big lad we discovered was an auto sexing cream legbar so that was a cert he was a boy. They were hatched in June but by the time they left we were still unsure of the last remaining hand hatch but they went together to a petting farm because we can;t keep roos - The he/she bird crowed a week later!!!!! We made the right call. It was another Cuckoo Maran roo boy. So out of 6 chicks we lost all the lovely boys and got 2 black scrawney hens? Which we love to bits now but at the time we had hoped they were the boys.

Oesdog - the roo waiting game is a hard one.

 

[crazygoatlady915]

Sorry! Haha, guess she's (he's) not actually a hen

 

[Thatchickenguy]

Quote:
You know that black sex link pullets are all black with some red in the breast area and in random places right? Lol

 

[chickenlizzy]

So I'm wondering how often this happens? It sounds like pretty darn often. We are picking up our first 10 chicks at the feed store on Wednesday. I would love to avoid a roo if at all possible.
A friend of mine who is an old hat at raising chickens told me a funny story. She always gets a chicken for her grandkids to show at the county fair. Well she got one that appeared to be a roo, long tail feathers, bigger, bossy etc, etc, so her grand-daughter showed it at the fair as a young roo and won a ribbon. A few weeks later that roo laid an egg.

I hope this doesn't happen to us, because i've heard scary stories of having a rooster, and my kids are quite small. Don't want to traumatize them on raising chickens.

 

[Sunshyne276]

Quote:
Hmmm... Yours sounds consistant with the black mystery chicks so many of us picked up from the "Comm. black pullet" bin, at Tractor Supply: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=466860

 

[Mattemma]

I was sad when my 5 EEs turned out to be hens. I had a 6th EE that was a roo,and he died at 16 weeks. I was so hoping for another roo. Now I just have 5 EEs and 2RSL hens, and they bicker and peck each other like there is no tomorrow! I am glad for all the eggs,but am missing the roo experience. One of my RSL did crow one time,lol.