What I thought was a hen but maybe not?

[rainybabe82]

The only surviving one of my first batch of chicks has started crowing but I have really thought prior to now that she was a hen. She/he is 4 months (got them march 17th from tsc) and when we got our second set of chicks she mothered them letting them sleep under her and taking care of them. So maybe you can tell me for sure hen or rooster?

 

[TinyBirds]

Her tail looks like a hen but her comb and wattles are big if she isnt laying eggs yet. Once hens start laying eggs they do get the bigger red comb and wattles more like a young rooster. If she is crowing for sure though I would have to guess either rooster or hermaphrodite https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8257394

 

[drumstick diva]

Does she have pointed hackle or saddle feathers? The photo isn't sharp enough to pick them out.

 

[summerb123]

it is hard to tell from those pictures

 

[RhodeRunner]

cockerel.

 

[BYCforlife]

Compared to the other hens it's a roo.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I too can't see well enough in the photos to decide. We are looking for signs of saddle feathers.

At 4 months (16 weeks), that should be a rooster with the comb shape and color and crowing, but the feathers and tail are not particularly rooster-ish. I do see a darker red pattern over the wings that gives me indication this is a rooster.

It is very rare to have a hen that crows. Crowing hens are usually older (henopausal) alpha girls who have lost their female hormones as they age such that the androgens are out of balance promoting masculine deepening of their voice.

Male saddle feathers often don't appear until 5 to 6 months of age. So if you are really hearing crowing, it is far, far more likely you have a developing rooster who apparently is a very sweet guy....so sweet in fact, that if you can keep him, do. He'll make fine tempered babes. Good roosters will tend to younger chicks and lovingly watch over their girls. (My Barnevelder is such a one).

But give us a better photo. It would confirm what those feathers are doing.

LofMc

 

[LilJoe]

In the first pic which is the bird in question??