Will a Rooster do the "submission squat"?

[RM44]

My preacher has a 4 month old Dominique (one of my original babies ordered from Welp). I have very little experience sexing chickens, but her dom looks different than the 3 I have. Specifically, it's face, ears, comb and waddle are much more red and larger than my 3. I suspect it may be a rooster due to the redness of the comb/ears/face, and it's very aggressive stance. However, I do not see any hackle or saddle feathers developing yet. Also, when I went to visit her and see the chickens, and I picked up this dom, it squatted and spread it's wings in the submissive way that a hen does when approached by the rooster, or when a hen does when we humans approach.

Is it possible that a rooster would squat and submit, or did this act prove this bird to be a hen? I don't have any pictures of the bird. I gave her 4; a Dominique, a Black Australorp and two RIRs. The preacher tells us that the Dom sleeps in the top floor of the chicken coop, and the other 3 sleep on the lower floor, and the 3 others tend to group together during the day while the Dom is more isolated and keeps to itself.

Any guesses?

 

[speckledhen]

Doms are similar to BRs in that the color is different in males and females. Roosters don't normally squat, no.

Here are two BR hens, then a BR rooster--huge difference.

 

[RM44]

Thanks Cynthia. I might try to go back over there and get a picture to post. I have very little (almost none!) experience at detecting Roosters from hens. I've only kept chickens since July '09, and the first batch was only 6 RIRs. I was able to determine the RIR rooster at about 5 months because it kept oiling itself up and it was quite shiny compared to "the girls". It didn't try to crow until it was about 6-7 months old.

I bought these as all pullets from Welp, but I do know that one BA was a male. I had to put it down at about 8 weeks old, and I only wanted a dozen chickens, so I've rehomed 12 so I can't observe them on a daily basis (the re-homed ones).

Your BR Rooster looks lighter than the girls. Is that the color difference you are referring to? I did notice that there were some blue dots/shimmers in the feathers of my preacher's Dom, and I so wished I had another one to stand right next to it for comparison.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, roosters in those breeds have two barring genes, the hens have one, making the white bars thinner and the overall look darker. And of course, by an early age, BR and Dom roosters have stringy, shiny saddle feathers hanging off the back.

 

[RM44]

Ah, well if the saddle feathers need to be present at an early age, and roosters don't generally do the squat, I think it must be a hen. I will try to get a picture of her just to be sure. I suspect you'll be able to tell at 18 weeks old? Thanks for your help!

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, yeah, unless it's just a freak bird, I can tell at that age. I bet it's a hen.