I'm off to find the camera and get a few photos for the educated eyes on this site...but until then... We have a small flock of 11 birds - all are about 6-7 months old, most of the hens are laying. In this little flock we had 3 Australorps. One is definitely a hen, one was definitely a rooster. The rooster died about a month ago. The other Australorp is smaller than our rooster was, none of the hackle feathering the rooster had, not at all dominant. Since the big Roo died, this Australorp has stayed the same except for tail feathering....its tail feathering has begun to get longer and it tries to breed one of the other hens. The rest of the hens beat it up, it's completely submissive to them. Comb and wattles aren't really red, either. I'm just wondering if rooster development is ever late b/c of other dominant roos in a flock. We're sort of sad to think our Hattie will from now on be a Harry. Is there a chance that this is actually a hen having a special relationship with the BR hen?? I should say that this bird is 6 mos. old....no crow, no eggs yet. Thoughts??
We're out in the country so roosters aren't necessarily a problem ordinance wise. Our neighbors are pretty intrigued by the chickens and are enjoying the eggs but their enjoyment might be short lived if Harry/Harriet ever starts crowing....
Sometimes a hen will take over the rooster's role in the flock. We had one that would crow, and at first got into crow-offs with our legitimate rooster. Thing is she's also the best broody mama in the world. Now the above link references a sudden sex reversal, however, I and others have noticed just a mimic effect, crowing, breeding, etc and then a return to normal behavior once there are roos around taking care of the flock.
Here's the chicken in question... Hopefully this posting photos thing worked out for me....not technically literate...