So many behaviors

[Wayne Melissa]

So I have tried to determine which of my chickens are ladies. So many of them square off, but then I read that is common for hens too. It says hens get submissive and lay down when u pet them, but my favorite one does this, and I am almost certain he's a rooster. Only one has started to crow. I am curious because they run my yard all day and I am sure I will need to start looking for eggs like it's easter. They have a house and they go there at night but how are they going to decide to lay in the nests?

 

[Mace Gill]

So I have tried to determine which of my chickens are ladies. So many of them square off, but then I read that is common for hens too. It says hens get submissive and lay down when u pet them, but my favorite one does this, and I am almost certain he's a rooster. Only one has started to crow. I am curious because they run my yard all day and I am sure I will need to start looking for eggs like it's easter. They have a house and they go there at night but how are they going to decide to lay in the nests?

When you really think they are ready to lay, place a fake egg in the nesting box

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Melissa, just because they get older and mature, does not mean they will just submit to the cockerels, unless the cockerels were already above them. I have a RIR rooster at the very end of my pullets order, and he had to fight hard to get where he got.

 

[azygous]

Are we talking about chicks? If so, how old are they? There are often outward signs that a chick is a cockerel as early as five or six weeks. By age ten weeks, a cockerel is often already starting to get saddle and sickle feathers so you should know which are which by this time.

If your pullets are sleeping in a coop and there are nest boxes installed, they should find them when they are ready to start laying.