What gender are they???

[jenww]

Can someone help me figure out what gender these two are? They currently four and a half months old. The yellow one looked like a hen to me but lately I found two black (not green) feathers on its tail. The brownish one has been trying to crow or that’s what I thought but someone told me that it could just be a hen making noise since it’s about to lay eggs. Please help I’m not allowed to have roosters and I have to give them away before I get too attached.

 

[JedJackson]

Both are females.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Both look like pullets

 

[rural mouse]

X3

 

[jenww]

Both are females.

Ok yea but do you know why the brownish ones seems to be crowing? Because I had a rooster that I had to give away and this ones sounds kinda resembles that one and I’m scared it’s also a rooster.

 

[rural mouse]

Ok yea but do you know why the brownish ones seems to be crowing? Because I had a rooster that I had to give away and this ones sounds kinda resembles that one and I’m scared it’s also a rooster.

At 4.5 months, rooster feathers (long skinny pointed feathers) would be showing in a cascade on both sides of the tail. Neck feathers would also be the rooster feathers.

Hens can and do crow, especially if there is no rooster. Egg will start appearing relatively soon. They can start about 20 weeks (so 5 months old). Based upon comb/wattle development, I'd say you're looking closer to 3-4 weeks on that, but they'll sort it out. Without a rooster, the one crowing is taking on roosterly duties, so if she's poking around corners of the yard, check for eggs in those corners. Roosters find nest sites and escort hens to the sites and back to where the rest of the flock is hanging out. They also sound "All's well" which is what a crow is in addition to ground and air danger.

 

[JedJackson]

Ok yea but do you know why the brownish ones seems to be crowing? Because I had a rooster that I had to give away and this ones sounds kinda resembles that one and I’m scared it’s also a rooster.

Females can crow, and sometimes they make sounds similar to roosters crowing. She'll probably grow out of it in time.

 

[jenww]

At 4.5 months, rooster feathers (long skinny pointed feathers) would be showing in a cascade on both sides of the tail. Neck feathers would also be the rooster feathers.

Hens can and do crow, especially if there is no rooster. Egg will start appearing relatively soon. They can start about 20 weeks (so 5 months old). Based upon comb/wattle development, I'd say you're looking closer to 3-4 weeks on that, but they'll sort it out. Without a rooster, the one crowing is taking on roosterly duties, so if she's poking around corners of the yard, check for eggs in those corners. Roosters find nest sites and escort hens to the sites and back to where the rest of the flock is hanging out. They also sound "All's well" which is what a crow is in addition to ground and air danger.

Thank you so much for explaining but I was wondering would the crowing hen be as loud as a rooster? Or will it be quieter since it’s a hen?

 

[rural mouse]

Thank you so much for explaining but I was wondering would the crowing hen be as loud as a rooster? Or will it be quieter since it’s a hen?

The people who implement the no rooster policies because of noise ordinances really do NOT know chickens. I have HENS who are noisier and louder than roosters. They will scream for an hour because the nest box they wish to lay their egg in is occupied by someone higher in the pecking order....or there are others in the coop and they want to lay their egg in complete and total privacy (totally unoccupied coop).

Rooster's voices can vary just as much as people's do. I have a hen who is the offspring of a blue laced red wyandotte who had the highest pitch/softest crow EVER! She is a quiet lady too. Meanwhile most standard sized birds have similar tones (think keys on a piano, middle of the keyboard area). I have a small (not bantam) rooster who's tones are much higher (halfway or more to the upper end of the piano). He screams out his "all's well" crow, then sounds his chukachuka "disgruntled but settling" and it's down in the same range as my other roos.

My brown leghorn hen will scream buk-buk-bukawk in the coop and I'll be inside the house with all the windows closed and go racing out to find out what's after the birds.....nope, egg place is occupied.

Crowing hens, quiet hens, noisy roosters, quiet roosters....each bird is unique and you'll have to do some silent observation to figure out your birds (like for at least an hour at a time). Don't interfere, just watch, and ponder.

 

[jenww]

Both are females.

But one of them (the yellow one) seems to have a really rooster posture and some black tail feathers. I just really really really hope I can keep these two. I had two before and people on this website all told me they were pullets and then I got attached then they starting crowing super loud and then I had to give them away but little did I know the people I gave it to killed them I just found out lately and I literally cried I just really hope I can make sure with these two so I can find a good home for them early on if they are roos