Can hens crow?

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I have 8 Astralorpes that were all supposed to be hens when I purchased them last Nov. *I think a bunch of them are roosters. *One is shaped like a hen, but it crows. *My frizzle roo doesn't peck it, so I wonder if it is a hen? It has a rooster body shape with large waddels, but a small crown like a hen. *We have been trying to sex them. The only sure way we seem to have come up with is to take one to the rooster to see if he pecks it. If he does we assume it is another rooster.
How do you sex these things? *I paid extra to get hens, but a bunch of them are crowing.

It's easy to tell the difference on the bantums and frizzles, but I have no idea on the big black Astralorpes. Are they just too young to tell the difference?

[Anon001]

Momma....
Body shape and waddles don't always mean anything nor does the pecking if it's a hen... a rooster will peck another rooster. Without the training, it is impossible to sex a chicken. Even trained people get it wrong at times. If it crows, I would put my money on it being a rooster. Did you buy them from a hatchery or an individual. If you bought them from an individual, about half will almost always be roosters if you bought them as chicks.

[fancyfowl]

Yes some hens crow. Usually the crow is not as loud, crisp nor as strong as a rooster but they do crow. Some might take on mopre masculin looks, some may look a be very feminine. I kept 1 black hamburg bantam hen when I sold out and she crowed last spring, not since, maybe again this spring?? I wouldnt think it normal for a bunch of hens to be crowing??

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Paul--
So, if the rooster pecks it then it's a rooster? and if it doesn't peck it, does that mean it is a hen? *Or does it mean nothing either way?


I know one of the astralorpes is laying because my bantams and leghorns *lay white eggs. *I've been getting one brown egg a day with all the white eggs. *It would be nice to dispose of all the extra roosters because I just want to keep my frizzle rooster and the hens. *I will cull the crowers for sure. I had heard that hens can crow like Fancy Fowl said, but I guess that is rare. The rest of the flock is still a guess.

I got the "pullets" from a local hatchery late last fall.

[fancyfowl]

look at the hackle feathers, if they are pointed at the end the bird is male, rounded on the end its a female, same same for the saddle feathers. Unless you have a hen feathered breed, you dont. Males also have larger combs, and wattles and will develop more prominent main tail feathers.
In my experience hens are the wost pickers by a long shot, thats why I kept them seperated except during matings.

[Grey_Ghost]

Are any of them growing spurs?

[harvester]

austrolorps (sp) are notorious for crowing hens. They usually sound pretty pathetic. Both my mother and my grandmother had crowing hens. I could never stand the breed so I never owned any myself.
Chickens will pick on each other wether they are male or female or both. Its a chicken, thats what they do.
The best way to tell a rooster from a hen is the feathers on the neck, easier nearer the body, low on the neck, the tips will be pointed on a rooster an very rounded and blunt on a hen.
Also in the hight of laying season you can count your eggs you get daily, if they are the same number as your hens, then you have crowing hens. If you are consistently 3-4 eggs short on a daily basis, then you have extra roosters.
Imho I would put anything that crows in the stewing pot. Normally if a hen crows they are not the best layers you have.

[fancyfowl]

When we were kids we got a job removing the spent layers and bringing in the new pullets, about 10,000 oof em. After we were all done we had to find the crowers, never found 1 rooster ever but would find 3-4 crowing hens in the lot. We could take them home, they layed some but not great.

I always liked the Austalorps, the show type are huge and gorgeous. An Australorp is a black Orpington bred for egg production. Selection has altered their physical character some too.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

*
*I always liked the Austalorps, the show type are huge and gorgeous.

I like the frizzled bantams. They aren't wondrous egg layers, but they have great personalities. Most all of the feather-legged bantam types are very friendly. You can walk right up to them and pick them up. And they raise chicks so well. If you have enough of them, it can make up for the small egg size. And you can hatch any egg under them.

[pathwayholding]

The peeps over at backyardchickens.com say hens can crow. *

I figured out our rooster was a rooster a few weeks before he even attempted his first crow. *He was about a pound heavier than the girls and his crown and wattles were about 2 times as big as theirs were. *Plus he was a jerk. *He was always giving me "the eye". *

path

[harvester]

Yep thats a sure sign of a rooster, if its a jerk! hahaha, its true tho!

[fancyfowl]

frizzle factoids:

Frizzle is not a breed. the mutation can be bred into any breed. the frizzle gene(F) is localized in the feather follicle which causes a structure abnormality. It is a dominant gene and 2 frizzleds should not be bred together. The gene also causes abnormalities of some inmternal organs like enlarged heart, s[pleen gizzard and alimentary canal. You ought to see a frizzled Silkie!!

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Mine are frizzled cochin bantams. I love them. They are so sweet. You can walk right up to them and pick them up. I just let them breed however they want to, but I haven't seen any major problems at this point. (Perhaps there is zygote lethality issues like when two hairless dogs breed, so you don't see the problems?) I an waiting for brooding to begin to get some more of them.
I have some silkies, but haven't noticed any frizzled yet. I just know the frizzles seem to have softer personalities like my hairless dogs do compared to the other ones. It must be something attached to the gene?

[fancyfowl]

the frizzled Cochins are by far the most popular, easy to see why.

The gene for frizzle isnt a lethal gene like the short legs in Jap bantams, it is a deleterious gene.. All mutations have some sort of bad allels but not all are always visable to the eye. some lethals are only semi lethal. Blue poultry have a weak feathjer structure. Now a blue frizzled Jap bantam might have some problems.

[Anon001]

First of all, yes some hens can crow, but it is rare and as someone stated they won't be your best hens.

All chickens peck... but when a rooster picks, it can have a different meaning. With a rooster, he will grab the feathers on a hen so he doesn't "fall off" if you get the gist.

I never keep chickens based on how pretty they are or not. I want a dual purpose bird that lays nice large eggs AND is a goo heavy meat bird. I don't have chickens for pets. I have dogs for pets. LOL every animal here earns his/her keep in one form or another. If not, there isn't room for them.... For a homestead to support itself, you can't have a lot of animals running around that are pets. They have to be consdidered an investment and are a work source or food source.

Also, I find the easiest way to see the difference between sexes is to look at the tail feathers... That is the biggest obvious difference to me.

As far as counting the eggs each day and the number of chickens. That isn't reliable. Not all breeds lay an egg every day and not all hens lay everyday... Some hens lay every other day.

Also, I shouldn't say anything bad about "local" hatcheries. But I don't use locals. I find that there breeds aren't always "purebreds", or I get some of a breed I didn't order, or the most common problem is the sexing of the birds. Most local hatcheries are small enough that they aren't as "experienced" on sexing. I still prefer to use one of about 3 large hatcheries. Just because they are shipped in from a few hundred miles doesn't hurt the chicks, if handled properly and the post office will deliver them to me on the route.

To summarize it, the easiest way for you to tell the sex is to notice the neck and tail feathers as they feather out. I think the tail feathers are easier to notice, especially at a distance.

[Gone_Country]

I was told also that the hens combs will be yellowish/pale pink until they start to lay. Roos are red from the start. Any truth to that?

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Roosters have bright red combs and wattles (if they have wattles) when they grow up.

I took a bunch of those hens/roosters/whatevers to the auction, and an old farmer said they were all hens. *Only a couple laid, so I didn't get hurt financially because they sold well. I have decided I am not an australorp fan. A bunch of them crowed, only a couple laid eggs, and they were all just ugly and bossy. *Right now I am just starting to get spring eggs from my ducks and bantams while some new RIRs grow up.

It is true that hens and roosters have different shaped feathers though. *That is the only way I have learned to guess some of them apart when they look so much alike.

[harvester]

i HATE austrolorps!
love my speckled sussex tho!

[momma_to_seven_chi]

i HATE austrolorps!

We are soul Sisters! Nasty breed of chicken.


Do you eat duck eggs or just hatch them? *I have dozens of the things. *I have some in the incubator, some under a banty and more on the counter with more being laid daily. *Can we eat them? *I already have 70 ducks, so ducklings really aren't my main need. I have been selling them at auction, but the hens are all still laying. I don't want to flood the "duck market" and drop the price too much.

Wanted to clarify-- I mean can you eat them plain-alone- like fried eggs? I use them in baked goods, but didn't know how they would taste alone as just eggs.

[johnjmw]

The Flavor of duck eggs is a little different than chicken eggs but yes they are very edible. My aunt and uncle use to love them.
John

[fancyfowl]

I have eaten them , liked some and not like some others but I can say I dont like goose eggs.

[harvester]

We are soul Sisters! Nasty breed of chicken.


Do you eat duck eggs or just hatch them? *I have dozens of the things. *I have some in the incubator, some under a banty and more on the counter with more being laid daily. *Can we eat them? *I already have 70 ducks, so ducklings really aren't my main need. I have been selling them at auction, but the hens are all still laying. I don't want to flood the "duck market" and drop the price too much.

Wanted to clarify-- I mean can you eat them plain-alone- like fried eggs? *I use them in baked goods, but didn't know how they would taste alone as just eggs.

Ive eaten many duck eggs and only noticed that they are very large, somewhat rubbery, richer tasting chicken eggs.
you can eat any egg wether that is from a bird or a turtle or marsupial. none of them will hurt you and all of them are incredibly nutritious.

I much preferr chicken eggs, pigeon eggs and turkey eggs over waterfowl eggs due to the lighter taste.

but my husband loves duck and goose eggs. He says its a manly egg..lol!

[rainygardener]

Oh know. :o I am a first timer to chickens and bought 8 Australorps, uhg. I bought them because I followed a breed selector on mypetchicken.com. Please don't hold back and tell me everything that is wrong with this breed and tell me what type of hens to get.
Thanks,
Rainy

[momma_to_seven_chi]

The australorpes are larger and heavier than the bantams, plus they are not as friendly. *My biggest problem with them is that I just can't tell them apart too well because many of the hens are just masculine looking (to me). I like good egglayers that are just pretty. The australopres will lay, they free range nicely, and can even fight off a beagle or strange cat if it bothers them. They are hearty birds. If I could tell the difference between the hens and the roosters, I would like them a lot better!

I do have more of australorpes now simply because my local "Bird lady" hatcher has tons of them. *Even if you buy some speckled hens from her, she adds a hand full of Australorpe chicks or hens to it. She's generous with the things, and will sell them for almost nothing because she has so many. Whenever I take some duck eggs to her, or anything else, she gives me australorpes in exchange. I don't turn down "free" even if it is an australorpe.

[harvester]

Yea, i dont turn down free either, but i got no problem eating an austrolorp. Ill eat just about anything that doesnt eat me first.
My neighbors learned about austrolorps the hard way, i tried to warn them. they kept a rooster for about a year. at about 6 months old he started getting nasty with them, he would chase them across the entire property just to land a blow on them. Many times ive had to go rescue their young daughter from being trapped on the top rail of the fence by him. Finally this year he jumped the neighbors 3 yr old grand daughter and hit her right in the face. The rooster is still laying dead in the pasture today.

[fancyfowl]

I like Australorps myself. They are really just a black Orpington bred for egg production. There are lines, or families, of any breed which can be unlike the norm for the breed. Selection is the key to any trait and some people just dont do a thorough job at selecting for the proper traits. I used to keep both large fowl and bantam Australorps and enjoyed them both. Mine were from exhibition lines and were beautiful but production could have been a bit better in the large fowl.

[huckelberry]

i have had lots a chickens over the years an never had a hen crow,i do know even professional sexers,only have about a 90% accuracry so 1 in 10 can be a rooster even if you pay for pullets.......good luck ;)

[bookwormom]

Hens can crow, my grandmother had a saying about whistling girls and crowing hens.
I use duck eggs just like chicken eggs and today had some hard boiled duck eggs. Have not tried a hard boiled goose egg yet but love to bake with them and make them into an omelette. when my husband told my sister that the sweet roll she was eating was made with duck eggs she took the bite back out of her mouth. she never noticed if he had not told her.

[huckelberry]

duck eggs are a little tough,goose eggs are the best,taste kinda sweet....too bad geese dont lay more ;)

[momma_to_seven_chi]

duck eggs are a little tough,goose eggs are the best,taste kinda sweet....too bad geese dont lay more ;)


Geese eggs are worth too much to eat. You can sell them at the livestock auction for a couple of dollars or more each. Turkey eggs even go higher than that. Peafowl eggs are like gold.

[fancyfowl]

There was some work done on an egg production goose some years ago, dont know where that ended up?

You'r right about thje peafowl, I've had them for over 20 years and they are as high as I have seen.