Virginia

[ESofVA]

like i said on the other post... if it WERE a roo, by almost 16 weeks (same as yours) a rooster would ALREADY be crowing... you'd see visual signs in the feathering (longer, more pointed saddle/hackle feathers), AND the comb/wattles would be WAY more developed than that little one's got IMO... and your girls will be developing their own combs in preparation for laying.

LOL!!! Funny!

Hey one sure way to test his roo ability is to catch him up and put him in a box or carrier. If he's a roo you will hear him crow. If he's a pullet he will just sqwak. Seems every time I've rehomed a cockerel that never crowed, the second they went into the carrier they began crowing. Lol.

I have 8 roostersof different breeds that are nearly the same age...16-18 weeks old and the only one that has crowed is my 1 Silver Sebright.

BTW...this is a picture of the bird I think he is asking about and islocated here...I have been following the thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697977/possible-ee-rooster-in-the-group

His photo, not mine

l

 

[ESofVA]

It would be better if we could see a close-up of the comb from the side. I do think a roo. Sorry!

 

[KDbeads]

Most definitely a roo.

 

[ki4got]

ok, devil's advocate... what would these birds be? pics taken at the same age...

 

[KDbeads]

Pattern of the coloring on the feathers tend to point to hen but I'd need to see more of the body to say for sure, also if it's 16 weeks and a hen she's really really really early to be showing that much comb so it could very well be a roo with more even pattern to the feather coloring. 20 weeks I could see that much of a comb on a hen.
Reason I say roo on the other is his feather color patterns are not even, they are all over the place, kinda like he just threw on whatever was laying at the foot of the bed when he woke up in the morning. EE roos tend to have that more often than not at this age.

This is all just based of my experience with ee's.... we've raise quite a few over the last few years.

 

[ki4got]

Pattern of the coloring on the feathers tend to point to hen but I'd need to see more of the body to say for sure, also if it's 16 weeks and a hen she's really really really early to be showing that much comb so it could very well be a roo with more even pattern to the feather coloring. 20 weeks I could see that much of a comb on a hen.
Reason I say roo on the other is his feather color patterns are not even, they are all over the place, kinda like he just threw on whatever was laying at the foot of the bed when he woke up in the morning. EE roos tend to have that more often than not at this age.

This is all just based of my experience with ee's.... we've raise quite a few over the last few years.

well, the 2 pics i posted are both hens... they started laying right at 16 weeks. about typical of all the EE's i've had. i'm not saying roo or hen, i've had a variety of similar marked birds that have gone both ways. i've got a pair right now that started with similar colorations, one is getting DARKER red on the shoulders, the other is staying the same color. and so far everything on the 2nd is pointing to pullet.

 

[KDbeads]

We've never had an ee start laying that early!!! 19 weeks was the earliest so far and she didn't even pink up in the comb until after she'd been laying a full week. Most of ours normally start laying between 5 and 6 months.
Still saying roo on that other one though

 

[ki4got]

We've never had an ee start laying that early!!! 19 weeks was the earliest so far and she didn't even pink up in the comb until after she'd been laying a full week. Most of ours normally start laying between 5 and 6 months.
Still saying roo on that other one though

well, they're 19 weeks old now, and have been laying for about 2 weeks. so 17 weeks at first egg... i was off by a week on counting...

then again, i do free range everyone from the earliest possible age. i wonder if that makes much of a difference. because my dorkings are typically slow growers, and i just got my first egg from the oldest pullet today, who hatched mid march. so that puts her at about 21 weeks old now. i don't do anything to push them to lay, just normal daylight, free choice feed in the evenings, free ranging all day...

here's a pic of her taken about 2 weeks ago... and i'll tell you, she's one beefy little girl. LOL ought to weigh her for the record.
(mature dorking hens range 6.5-7.5 pounds)

 

[sajack]

No i am in Portsmouth Va fighting to keep my little hens.

 

[sajack]

I have 5 different kind of chickens. Moved to Portsmouth Va about 5 years ago from Wyoming where I raised several hundred chickens on yhe ranch there. I got my little hens only to find out now Portsmouth doesnt like them. It is breaking my heart to think of having to get rid of them.