Tiny bantam cochin

[MandyMusshafen]

It is a thing ! I have 3 little girls just like yours but mine are a different color. I do think the black one is a pullet. All 3 of mine have similar looking combs and wattles and lay the exact same size and color of your eggs.

Also! Your birds are GORGEOUS!!!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I have had Cochins for, goodness, a decade now I think, at least if you count the little guy that started it all way back in 2013! So I am coming from a place of an abundance of direct experience with the breed, here. I agree with the others that that's a cockerel. I see saddle feathers as well, and at 4 months of age Cochin bantam pullets still look like your Red girl in the face, a hint of color starting but hardly any comb or wattle growth at all. No 4-month-old Cochin bantam is going to lay you eggs; that's only about 16 weeks of age for a breed that often doesn't come into lay until closer to 30 weeks of age, sometimes even later than that. So the eggs are coming from someone else for sure. I also suspect that he's younger than you were told, or perhaps he's the 3 month old and the Red pullet is 4 months old?

As others have said, mounting behavior does not guarantee that the bird being mounted is a female; often it's a display of dominance and happens with either sex in either position. Very young cockerels are frequently the target for this from older males as they're too young to fight back and very submissive still. I have 3-4 month old cockerels who are still being chased and flogged by my hens, not even the adult roosters in the flock.

 

[fowltemptress]

If you ignore the comb and wattles and look closely at his feathers compared to your girls' you'll see why people are telling you it's a cockerel. I have had a hen develope "Roo-ish" feathering before, and she even started crowing. But she had also quit laying eggs - I think it may have been caused by some sort of damage to her ovary.

 

[Amer]

Thank you! I am raising 2 bantam cochin roos and a pullet from hatch and the boys just didn't look like this ever! Their wattles were always less rounded and combs were/are different! She looks much more like my pullet, just tiny. The 3 of them are 5 months, and their feathers have looked the same to me until recently. I'm wondering if all the peolle saying she's a boy have ever raised bantam cochins before.View attachment 3576936View attachment 3576935
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I have!

 

[MandyMusshafen]

I have had Cochins for, goodness, a decade now I think, at least if you count the little guy that started it all way back in 2013! So I am coming from a place of an abundance of direct experience with the breed, here. I agree with the others that that's a cockerel. I see saddle feathers as well, and at 4 months of age Cochin bantam pullets still look like your Red girl in the face, a hint of color starting but hardly any comb or wattle growth at all. No 4-month-old Cochin bantam is going to lay you eggs; that's only about 16 weeks of age for a breed that often doesn't come into lay until closer to 30 weeks of age, sometimes even later than that. So the eggs are coming from someone else for sure. I also suspect that he's younger than you were told, or perhaps he's the 3 month old and the Red pullet is 4 months old?

As others have said, mounting behavior does not guarantee that the bird being mounted is a female; often it's a display of dominance and happens with either sex in either position. Very young cockerels are frequently the target for this from older males as they're too young to fight back and very submissive still. I have 3-4 month old cockerels who are still being chased and flogged by my hens, not even the adult roosters in the flock.

I think she is older than I was told, but very tiny. I believe she is a hen and not a pullet. I have had several people tell me that they have very tiny bantam cochin hens that very much resemble mine. I have also raised bantam cochins and she is too well feathered to be a young cockerel of an age that would match her size and wattle/comb development. This is one of my cockerels when he was about her size. He was not nearly as feathered out as she is, and still has some baby fluff. He was a little over 2 months in this pic.

His wattles are also more elongated along his face.

Here he is a little over 3 months.

 

[Amer]

No 4-month-old Cochin bantam is going to lay you eggs; that's only about 16 weeks of age for a breed that often doesn't come into lay until closer to 30 weeks of age, sometimes even later than that.

True, when I had a Cochin pullet (bought already at POL, she never layed an egg in her life! But she died inexplicably, so I think it must have been a health issue.) You definitely know more about the breed than I do so I will trust your word on when they lay.
Funny story: a Buckeye bantam sourced from my stock, a full sibling the same age or younger than my pullets was laying eggs at four months at the county fair!
She was brought by another exhibitor. Mine weren’t laying. She must take special care of her birds!
I never had that happen with mine, though.

If you ignore the comb and wattles and look closely at his feathers compared to your girls' you'll see why people are telling you it's a cockerel. I have had a hen develope "Roo-ish" feathering before, and she even started crowing. But she had also quit laying eggs - I think it may have been caused by some sort of damage to her ovary.

I have judged a fair where the silver laced Wyandotte pullet had some rooster feathers!

 

[fluffycrow]

Thank you! I am raising 2 bantam cochin roos and a pullet from hatch and the boys just didn't look like this ever! Their wattles were always less rounded and combs were/are different! She looks much more like my pullet, just tiny. The 3 of them are 5 months, and their feathers have looked the same to me until recently. I'm wondering if all the peolle saying she's a boy have ever raised bantam cochins before.View attachment 3576936View attachment 3576935
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I have not, but I can assure you, saddle feathers are a universal thing amongst cockerels , as is males mounting males. In fact, even my young gamefowl have done it, before the age where they wanted to kill eachother

 

[Amer]

I'm wondering if all the peolle saying she's a boy have ever raised bantam cochins before.View attachment 3576936View attachment 3576935
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Hmmmmm

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I have also raised bantam cochins and she is too well feathered to be a young cockerel of an age that would match her size and wattle/comb development. This is one of my cockerels when he was about her size. He was not nearly as feathered out as she is, and still has some baby fluff. He was a little over 2 months in this pic.

I'm not following the logic here. All of my 3-month-old males look very similar to the bird in question. Here are several cockerels from last year as an example.

All taken the same day, 3 months after they all hatched together, and no chick fluff left on any of them. Note that while some had smaller or larger combs and wattles than the others, they were still all distinct from the pullets of the same age who had almost nothing for combs and wattles, like your Red pullet.

And none of my current 3-month-old cockerels would pose for a picture with the terrifying ( ) soda can I took out there with me just now, but their size compared to it was pretty spot on to the size of your bird next to your soda can. It makes a lot more sense that this is a younger cockerel than this being a bizarrely tiny but much older pullet who has masculine saddle feathers emerging and huge feet like a cockerel would, but also is somehow laying eggs.

 

[Little Baby Bean]

Thank you! I am raising 2 bantam cochin roos and a pullet from hatch and the boys just didn't look like this ever! Their wattles were always less rounded and combs were/are different! She looks much more like my pullet, just tiny. The 3 of them are 5 months, and their feathers have looked the same to me until recently. I'm wondering if all the peolle saying she's a boy have ever raised bantam cochins before.View attachment 3576936View attachment 3576935
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I have raised many bantam Cochins, as well as bantam Cochin crosses. I’ve had both pullets and cockerels. The pullets have never grown male specific saddle feathers. But the males have.
Just because your cockerel is tiny, he is not automatically a pullet. He may just be better quality than the others. Or he could be younger than you were told. Or he could be slower to develop. There are so many possible reasons.
As for the males mounting males, that is just something that happens when a male needs to show the other male who is the dominant one. I’ve even had it happen with hens.
OP, I know you were told differently, but this bird is a cockerel. There is no way that he is the one laying those eggs.