Calling all chicken experts…
My chicks hatched last July and are now 7 months old. At what point do roosters start crowing?
I thought that all the ones I had left were hens, but now I’m not sure.
My little black chick, that I thought was a hen, looked like this for a long time.
This is what she/he looks like now.
The comb and waddles are a lot bigger than my other chickens and she/he walks around all puffed up and macho. I haven’t heard any crowing though? I really didn’t want a rooster in my small group, but I really like this chicken. Any opinions?
Stories from the Farm 
This is an interesting conundrum. From looking at the neck feathers (the ones with the pale edges and black V shape) I would say she is a hen. If she was a rooster, those should have very defined pointed ends, not rounded ends. Imagine them without the light parts – just the black V – and that’s what they should look like. On the other hand, the tail feathers look a bit roo-ish, but then again, she doesn’t appear to be developing saddle hackles, which I would expect by this point if it was a roo, When you say that the comb and wattles are bigger, do you mean that all the others are the same breed of chicken, and they all look different? Or do you have mixed breeds? What breed is she/he supposed to be? Sort of looks like a redcap or a rosecomb but I’m not positive…
She certainly does hold herself in that rooster-strut way! Sometimes a hen or two will start crowing and taking over rooster gaurdian type duties if there is no roo around to take charge. Most of my hens don’t have such red red combs (and those hangy under-the chin parts -tech term LOL)are not nearly so large. She/he does look nice!
My guess (and it’s only a true guess) is that he/she is a hen. I would expect that you would have heard crowing by now if it were a roo. Which ever he/she is the bird is very pretty. I would look on line and see if you can locate that breed of chicken and view aduld hens and roos and maybe you can identify which one it is. Hey Shannon, will you post some pics of your very pregnant sheep bellies, I would love to see them. I don’t have girls with large enough bellies to enjoy yet. Thanks…….
Have you picked it up and looked at the egg-laying end yet? Or are yours laying yet? If they are, a hen’s opening is distinctive (you might have to compare the one in question to one not in question).
Thanks for the input! No, they are not all the same breed 😉 They are a very ecclectic group. I’ll post some pictures of the others. I swapped eggs with a gal last year. She wanted some fertile duck eggs and I wanted some more chickens. My two little banty hens hatched the eggs for me. They are mostly banty crosses of some sort. It’s comb does look like a rosecomb and it is a much redder color than the others. I would have thought I would have heard crowing by this point too.
Yes, I will post some pregnant ewe pictures for you 😉
Michelle – that is a good idea. The young ones aren’t laying yet, but I will still see if they look different.