Hen is Crowing and Mounting Other Hens Help!

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

To be clear this is not me saying your bird is female, @hannahshatcheryofficial , it’s me saying yes hens can crow, but 4 month olds don’t. A crowing 4 month old is a regular old cockerel, doing cockerel behaviors.

Darn I really wish I had photos of the other cockerels from that hatch I could show you! I’m kicking myself now for not taking any, but when I was sorting the males from females, “she” looked enough like a female to me and my business partner to make it into the hen bin. Maybe we miss-sexed “him” but “he” did look very different from the other cockerels in this hatch! Maybe just a weird glitch in “his” development and maturation. Time will tell!

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

It looks like a cock to me, but if @hannahshatcheryofficial is puzzled we may be missing something by not being there in person.

The main thing that had me questioning was that the other cockerels in this hatch looked very much like cockerels and it was easy to distinguish them. “She” looked so much like the other hens in the hatch when I was sexing them a few weeks ago that I guess “she” must have tricked me into thinking she was one!

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

View attachment 3150777View attachment 3150778
The tail feathers, comb size, and comb color are clear signs that this is a cockerel.

The tail feathers were the biggest sticking point for me too in deciding what the sex is! But when I was comparing the others in the hatch, “his” tail feathers were so much more close to the other females that I really thought “he” was a pullet too! Must be late maturing or I’m getting bad eyesight for sexing this batch of barnyard mixes hahaha.

 

[NatJ]

She’s a Sussex mix and there were cockerels in the clutch that hatched and looked very different from “her” so that’s what’s got me even more confused. (Don’t have any photos of them unfortunately but they looked like your standard Sussex roos).

Sussex mixed with what?

If some chicks were different mixes than others, it would be easy to have some that look different than others.

Looking at the leg feathers and the pea comb, I would have thought this bird was a Brahma. Brahmas are known for slow growth and late maturity. So if this one is even part Brahma, that may be why it is developing male traits later than the others.

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

I have a hen who crows, but she’s 2 and only started crowing after our lead hen passed away. She still lays eggs regularly. But when she’s unhappy she crows. Loudly.

Haha yes the first in line dominant hens can surprise you with some crowing and it is very strange! This exact scenario happened to me a few years ago too.

 

[Earthdale]

To be clear this is not me saying your bird is female, @hannahshatcheryofficial , it’s me saying yes hens can crow, but 4 month olds don’t. A crowing 4 month old is a regular old cockerel, doing cockerel behaviors.

The bird I had started crowing at the same time as the other young males.

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

Sussex mixed with what?

If some chicks were different mixes than others, it would be easy to have some that look different than others.

Looking at the leg feathers and the pea comb, I would have thought this bird was a Brahma. Brahmas are known for slow growth and late maturity. So if this one is even part Brahma, that may be why it is developing male traits later than the others.

Yes you’re right this hatch had 24 light Sussex/Brahma mixed chicks! My business partner has many years experience in vent sexing but of course it’s not an exact science and mistakes can happen! He put “her” into the female-only brooder so maybe that could have biased me to thinking “she” was a female from the beginning. But like I said, I could quite possibly be wrong but it was at least a little odd to me that “she” still looked very different from the other males in the hatch.

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

Your video cracked me up. The crow and then you saying, "WHY"

 

[hannahshatcheryofficial]

Wait and see what?

See if he lays an egg or not

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Wait and see what?

I ask because I’m not sure what more this bird has to show you.
He’s let you hear his crowing, and you can probably see and feel his big red comb, growing tail and saddle feathers…
He’s made it pretty clear IMO.
People say “wait for an egg or a crow” and he’s given you one. He’ll never give you the other because he’s male and always has been.