What do I have?

[miniCOOPer]

Meet my little flock... there are 5 of them and they are all supposed to be sexed pullets. They are 11 weeks in this picture. I have two who grew combs early but were both smaller and seemed to be at or near the bottom of the pecking order. The one in the foreground is Apple - we can't figure out if she is a partridge rock roo or a black rock pullet or something else altogether?

We got them from a store that only ordered sexed pullets but they were then all bunched together so we were not sure of the breeds we were getting. The other potential roo is just behind Apple... the comb is not red but pale orange and very near the color of the other australorp pullets.

Currently our australorp (Amelia/Emilio) is perhaps slightly bigger than the other two and Apple is very large but our other "rock" became an amaraucana so we don't have much for comparison.

We have not heard any kind of attempt to crow but Apple did go through a honking phase - it was loud and sounded exactly like a goose.

Please help!

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't know what breed Apple is, but he is definitely a rooster. I would guess the one behind him is also a rooster due to the large comb and wattles, but it would help to get a full body shot of that one as well.

 

[lux_interior]

Agreed! Not sure about breed, but apple and the one behind him are definitely roos.

 

[miniCOOPer]

One rooster I can handle... not sure it would be good to have two with such a small flock. Here is Amelia/Emilio. This one is definitely the biggest "chicken" in the bunch.

 

[lux_interior]

Def. and Austrolorp, and Def. an Emelio

With three hens, you may not need 2 roosters, but they grew up together and might be fine. I would keep them both as long as you don't have any problems.

 

[miniCOOPer]

Just as an aside... all of the chickens posture like that when I first open their door. Molly (the amaraucana) will always be the first to ignore me.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

I agree with every one above, but just to let you know I have a hen that honks and sound like a goose. In other words my friend named her Goose, and yes she lays eggs

 

[georgialee]

Well, I don't know on the sex. I was looking at pics on feathersite and some of their rir and australorp hens had pretty big combs.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The Partridge Plymouth Rock is a cockerel and the Black Australorp is also a cockerel.

 

[miniCOOPer]

Quote:
Well this is part of what got us stuck! Everyone we talked to said that roos don't honk but many hens do... and black rock hen pix that I have seen look very much like partridge plymouth rock roos...

Thanks so much for everyone's help! Apple and Emilio are both very sweet though so I would like to keep but does anyone have experience with TWO roos in a small flock?