To be or not to be a Rooster???

[sherturton]

So we have a dilemna here at our "city-fied Farm," as my husband affectionately calls it. We were given two hens. It was just before the weather turned, and one laid regularly for a month or so before stopping due to the season change, while the other did not lay after she came to us. A couple of months later, the non-layer let a sound that made us think she was trying to crow...we even had a neighbor ask if we got a rooster. This "semi-crowing" contnued sporatically. It has now been three months, and we built the chickens a nice big coop and put in a heating lamp. Consequently, the one who laid before has begun laying again (we are unclear as to whether or not the 4 bantys we acquired are layng yet or not), and we don't think the semi-crower has begun laying. However, ever since moving into the new coop, we have not heard a crow attempt, and she (he?) has never crowed fully. We have also never seen her (him?) try to mount one of the other hens, and she (he) has no spurs. We only have one of this type of chicken and are not even sure what breed it is so we have no basis of comparison. We want to keep her if she's a hen, but need to find him another home if he's a rooster (the neighbors won't like it if he really does start crowing). Any thoughts on this confusing quandry?

Sherilyn

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Sometimes when there is no rooster, one hen will take on the role in ALL aspects. Once you've posted enough for the forum to allow you to do so, come back and post pics, the folks here should be able to tell you for sure if it's a roo or a hen!

 

[sourland]

Some hens do crow. Does this chicken have any of the feathering characteristics of a rooster? i.e., pointy hackle, saddle or wing coverlet feathers? If not, it is probably a hen. If you could post a picture someone could give a more accurate guess.

 

[Pinky]

Sometimes hens will crow. Its not common, but it's not impossible. When you post more, you will be able to post picture and that would help. If you can hold your chickens, you can look at the hackles(neck feathers) and saddle (back near the tail) feathers. Roosters will have pointed saddle and hackle feathers while hens will have rounded hackles and saddle feathers. Hope this helps a bit

 

[Judy]

I agree, I think you have a hen acting like a roo. I had one. She couldn't really crow but thought she could. Pretty pitiful. She also "mounted" the other hens -- just stood on their backs and bit their necks a bit. They say when one does this, she may not lay; I don't know whether mine did or not. When the real rooster matured, she quit all that and started acting like a hen.