Who is the roo?

[littlels]

My four hens have been without a rooster since May. About 2 week ago, we found fertile eggs! We bought the following four all as pullets, but one of them has to be a roo. There is no crowing going on and I personally don't see one of them that sticks out to me as a rooster. None of them are laying yet but they should be anytime so they are about 18 weeks or so old...



Blue Laced Wyandotte




Speckled Sussex



Ameraucana



Turken

What is your best guess?

 

[donrae]

I can't enlarge the turken picture, so I can't really see it well. that said, none of those birds look like 18 week old roosters. The Sussex could possibly be a younger rooster, with that sickle feather, but it's very slow maturing if that's the case.

What criteria are you using for saying your eggs are fertile?

 

[K Spot]

I can't enlarge the turken picture, so I can't really see it well. that said, none of those birds look like 18 week old roosters. The Sussex could possibly be a younger rooster, with that sickle feather, but it's very slow maturing if that's the case.

What criteria are you using for saying your eggs are fertile?

x2

And your Ameraucana is actually an Easter Egger

 

[muralmommy23]

I'm betting it's your Sussex. I bought 5 Sussex chicks (all were supposed to be pullets) and one ended up being a rooster. He was really slow to mature and show any signs. He didn't start crowing until at least 7 months and never really put on a good tall comb. The best way to check to see if she's a he is to look for the beginning of spurs. That was the only way I actually noticed my she was a he! They are really docile roos and pretty birds too.

 

[Wyandottes7]

None of those birds really look like roosters. However, if I was to make a guess as to who the rooster was, I'd choose the Sussex.

 

[littlels]

All of them seem kind of small for their age. I could be off by 2 weeks but that's it. This is our first year raising the chicks mostly on pasture so I figured that's why the were growing slower.

We have had roosters and incubated, etc in the past and we always looked for the bullseye on the yolk. Because we didn't have a rooster for so long we stopped paying attention to the ring. My husband noticed it by chance when making breakfast and yep...there was more than one egg that was fertile.

Thanks for the correction of the easter egger. I never had one or an americauna so I believed the seller when the told me it was an americauna :-/

 

[newbie32]

Bullseye? I would say the Sussex too because of the tail

 

[littlels]

I guess we will have to wait a bit longer but isn't it odd that it is so small, young and quiet but mounting my 3 yr old hens? After our roo left this spring, the RIR hen started mounting the hens after a couple months without him and she always was pretty dominant so I am also surprised that she is letting him get away with it...btw, I know that the RIR is a hen because I have seen her lay an egg!