Thoughts please

[BorneHomestead]

I bred my Silver-grey Dorking Hen with my Red/Brown EE Rooster and ended up with 2 chicks that looked totally different leaving me to believe that one was a hen and the other a rooster. So I am posting pics to see if you experienced chicken keepers have any clue.


This is them at a few days old.



As you can see on had darker and more pronounced markings than the other.


What I believe to be the female on the left, male on the right. 4 weeks old. His comb is already changing colors and he is noticeably bigger than her.


Female at 16 weeks old


Male at 16 weeks old and already been crowing for awhile.


Female at 7 1/2 months old, still has yet to lay but has not crowed either.



Male at 7 months old.

 

[ramirezframing]

Both are roosters

 

[Ruthster55]

They are both male. Hope you can keep both as breeders. Looks like a worthwhile project with the Dorking traits for meatiness and EE traits for tose pretty eggs!!!

They are quite attractive. Hope you have some EE and Dorking girls waiting!

 

[Wyandottes7]

You have two roosters.

 

[BorneHomestead]

what are you guys seeing that makes you think the female is a male? her comb is still pale (even though the picture makes it look red), she does not mount any other chickens. She does not have the narrow saddle or hackle feathers like any of my other roosters including her brother. even her leg thickness is very slender compared to all my males. so are you guys just going by her tail?

I would think at 7 1/2 months old if she was a he, it would crow. Everyone that I hatched out in that batch, all 6 roosters (that I knew were forsure roosters) crowed. She never has. I thought roosters matured earlier then hens? I know the dorking breed is slow maturing.

 

[ramirezframing]

Male at 16 weeks old and already been crowing for awhile.


Female at 7 1/2 months old, still has yet to lay but has not crowed either.

If you look, they both have heckles and the main sickles are alike also. Not all roosters mature at the same time. And when you have a bunch of males, the less dominate ones tend to "hide" by not crowing or mounting the females. Dominate roosters will also mount less dominate roosters to show who is boss.

If you have the space/ empty pen, you can take this "hen/ rooster" bird and put it with another hen in a pen all by themselves. After awhile, you'll probably hear him crow and see him mount the other hen. It's just a thought.

 

[BorneHomestead]

If you look, they both have heckles and the main sickles are alike also. Not all roosters mature at the same time. And when you have a bunch of males, the less dominate ones tend to "hide" by not crowing or mounting the females. Dominate roosters will also mount less dominate roosters to show who is boss.

If you have the space/ empty pen, you can take this "hen/ rooster" bird and put it with another hen in a pen all by themselves. After awhile, you'll probably hear him crow and see him mount the other hen. It's just a thought.

you do realize the 2 pictures you selected are of the known male at 16 week and the one I believe to be the female at 30 weeks old??

 

[ramirezframing]

Yes I do. The picture of the male at that age has the same heckles as the "hen" and that picture of the rooster shows the heckles well.

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Both are roosters

I agree

 

[donrae]

They're both males. The one you're calling female is male, just less developed. That coloring won't ever be seen on a female, and those are definitely hackle and saddle feathers. I agree, if you separated it, it may show more roo characteristics, or it may not. Some birds are just way slow to develop.

The chicks looked so different at hatch because your were working with mixed breed birds. The EE father's genetics are probably a mishmash, so he won't throw consistent offspring. When you mate two different breeds, you're likely to get varied offspring.