Who laid this egg? Who is crowing?

[monavillemare]

My mom has a completely enclosed coop, nothing can get in and nothing gets out. She has 6 chickens. 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Ideal 236, 1 Polish and 1 Golden Penciled Hamburg.
Two very strange things started happening lately:
1) Someone is crowing. But all of the birds are over 8 months old. Shouldn't this rooster started crowing sooner? if its a rooster?
2) Someone is laying a blue tinted egg. There are no Americauna on this pen or even in this neighborhood. We get white eggs from the 236's, we get light brown specked eggs from the Sussex. There is a cream colored egg and a blue. I have Polish and get teardrop cream eggs from them. Could it be that the Hamburg is laying this blue egg? and if so, who is crowing?

We are utterly perplexed. Help.

 

[speckledhen]

My mom has a completely enclosed coop, nothing can get in and nothing gets out. She has 6 chickens. 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Ideal 236, 1 Polish and 1 Golden Penciled Hamburg.
Two very strange things started happening lately:
1) Someone is crowing. But all of the birds are over 8 months old. Shouldn't this rooster started crowing sooner? if its a rooster?
2) Someone is laying a blue tinted egg. There are no Americauna on this pen or even in this neighborhood. We get white eggs from the 236's, we get light brown specked eggs from the Sussex. There is a cream colored egg and a blue. I have Polish and get teardrop cream eggs from them. Could it be that the Hamburg is laying this blue egg? and if so, who is crowing?

We are utterly perplexed. Help.

You'd need to post pics of the birds she has for us to say. Maybe one of the girls was misidentified. Those breeds do not lay blue eggs.

Roosters can begin crowing at any time, from a few DAYS old up to a year old.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

i agree with @speckledhen

but also know that hens can start crowing and take over rooster jobs like protecting the flock, and getting everyone back inside at night

would love to see some pictures

 

[speckledhen]

i agree with @speckledhen

but also know that hens can start crowing and take over rooster jobs like protecting the flock, and getting everyone back inside at night

would love to see some pictures

Most of the time, a hen doesn't crow exactly like a rooster. I call it "caterwauling", though yes, some do actually sound like a rooster, had a couple do it over the years, but it's more rare than you'd think. I bet there is a "stealth rooster" in the bunch, which is more likely. So many times, we've had the same question come up and when we see the "hens", there are one or two males in the bunch.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Most of the time, a hen doesn't crow exactly like a rooster. I call it "caterwauling", though yes, some do actually sound like a rooster, had a couple do it over the years, but it's more rare than you'd think. I bet there is a "stealth rooster" in the bunch, which is more likely. So many times, we've had the same question come up and when we see the "hens", there are one or two males in the bunch.

LOL, yep!! i have had a couple too!

 

[monavillemare]

I'll go over there today and get some pics. Great ideas y'all thank you. I'll get these pics up ASAP.

 

[speckledhen]

LOL, yep!! i have had a couple too!

Shortly after my big Blue Orp rooster, Suede, passed away in 2012, one of his blue hens, one I still have (elderly lady, half blind now, 9 yrs old) crowed once or twice for two days in a row. It was a true rooster-sounding crow. She has never done it since. I think it was almost a grieving thing as he was almost 6 years old and the only rooster she'd ever known.

But, I have had hens who did the big, drawn-out caterwauling wail that is not a crow, per se, but the sound sure does carry! I would not call that crowing. One of my Delaware hens did it (The Mouth of the South, we called her) and one of my tiny Belgian D'anver hens does it when she wants out of her pen.

I still maintain that it's possible there is a crowing hen, but more probable that there is a stealth rooster in the bunch.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Looking forward to the pics....

Gary from Idyllwild Ca here

 

[speckledhen]

Looking forward to the pics....

Gary from Idyllwild Ca here

x2