When will all the feathers of your chickens come in? And when will the cockerels start crowing?

[artvandolay]

Two questions:

1. So I have several breeds of chickens and want to know when all their adult feathers and colors are done coming in so I can decide to keep the ones I like and give away the others. I have one clutch of 11 week olds and another or 9.

2. I also have some who people said were roosters, but they haven't crowed yet. I thought that they should have been crowing by 6-8 weeks.

Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most are fully feathered at around 5-6 months, but some may take longer to grow in their tail.

They can crow anywhere from a week old to a year old. Most start to crow at around 4-6 months in my experiences.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Those look like males to me. You could try posting them in the what breed and gender forum for some more opinions.

I have a lot of mature roosters running around so the young boys are more wary, and often don't crow until they are a bit older. It all depends on the breed too with smaller breeds maturing faster.

 

[fluffycrow]

Well it all depends on what breeds you have. Some take way longer, and some way shorter. Most feather out completely at the 5-7 month mark. That goes for crowing as well. You won't hear crowing until 4-6 months for most breeds. So the question is, what breeds do you have?

 

[fluffycrow]

I had earlier and I was told they were cockerels so I assumed that, but after all these weeks they still haven't crowed so I am not sure. Here was my original pic of one of them.

This one is part Majesty Maran mix, I believe the other not pictured is a Cochin mix. Thy have a very hoase sounding chirp though the pullet and what I believe to be a cockerel.

Yeah, most of your breeds fall under the normal category, so the time frames @oldhenlikesdogs and I mentioned apply for them. Your serama are the exception. And yes, you're correct, the bird pictured is in fact a cockerel

 

[artvandolay]

Most are fully feathered at around 5-6 months, but some may take longer to grow in their tail.

They can crow anywhere from a week old to a year old. Most start to crow at around 4-6 months in my experiences.

I have some Seramas that started crowing at about 7 weeks which I thought was normal to be at, usually 6-8 is what I thought. These two and other I have have yet to crow, but I want to make sure before I rehome them.

 

[Cluckingtime]

I had a light brahma that did not crow til about 4 or 5 months.. 3 EE Cockrell that were crowing by 5 weeks and my barred rock Cockrell I hatched from my flock in April crowed at 5 weeks. I think it's individual

 

[fluffycrow]

No these guys are 11 weeks, so I was going to rehome them but they haven't crowed so I started wondering.

Yeah they're cockerels. The normal age for crowing is 4-6 months, so you've still got plenty of time before you heard any crowing

 

[artvandolay]

On a side note, I love my Serama's crowing! Their crowing is the cutest thing.

 

[fluffycrow]

I have some Seramas that started crowing at about 7 weeks which I thought was normal to be at, usually 6-8 is what I thought. These two and other I have have yet to crow, but I want to make sure before I rehome them.

Those are 8 weeks old? If so, they're definitely cockerels. You won't hear them crowing for another two months or so