She's a HE!

I went to let the chickens out this morning. I first let the big girls out from their hen house. The babies are in the garden shed right next door. As I let the big girls out ... I thought I heard something ... no it couldn't be! Then I heard it again!



It was the CUTEST little cocka-doodle-doo I've EVER HEARD!



I WISH I lived in the country. I so badly want to keep him and so does DH, but now I'm going to have to find a new home for Millie - er I mean - Millard. :*-(


I'm also thinking that I might have to rehome them as a pair. I don't know if one little bantie would be happy with two standard sized girls.

Oh I feel your pain! When I ordered my 6 silkies I ended up w/ all roos! Still have two but very sad to sell the others. The two I have crow all day and night! My DD can't wait until winter when her windows will be closed!
I love the pic of them-too cute!

It's funny but the only thing about the roos that we'll miss is the crowing. That's the reason Paul wants to keep Napoleon up at the goat pen, just so he can hear him crowing.
Too quiet here right now with just three roos around (one with the hens, one in line to be processed and Napoleon).

MollyD

Yes, I love the sound of it too. I was just so tickled to hear it this morning! I'm sure it'll get louder, but right now it is so soft you have to be standing right there or really straining to hear it.

I wish, wish, wish, we could keep him, but we're only on a 9k sf lot and the neighbors would NOT be thrilled!

How come we never Seem to Celebrate a "He is a She"? It's always the other way around. And then when I need one mistake in my pullets to have a same breed roo, the hatchery doesn't make a mistake. I guess it's Murphy's Law.

Sheila

One of our white Silkies, hatched in late June has also turned out to be a roo. He's about five feet away from a mature white Silkie roo. We have laughed ourselves silly at his crow. It sounds cartoonish when you are accustomed to hearing the mature sound. It almost sounds like he has something caught in his throat.

We have kept our roos, even though they are on the mean side but we live "in the country" so no one complains. We have one roo in each of three pens and we have one more pen in the garage with five August hatched silkies. We are waiting on the weather to settle before we move their little coop outside. They are growing so fast! We are hoping to not hear any crowing from that pen. My husband is going to get real tired of building small coops. LOL

Yes, its absolutely adorable. I found myself standing outside the garden shed hoping that he'd crow again, but apparently he was not down with a performance this morning.

K9MomTo6 has offered to take my two little ones and so we will most likely be making a trip to her house today... I had hoped to hear him crow one more time.

I'm so happy you found them a home. :)

Maybe you can stand across the yard and make the sound yourself, provoking him to speak.

Don't tempt me! My DH already thinks I'm a nut for how much I talk to the girls. I've gotten pretty good and mimicking them... so much that I fake DH out all the time. ;-)

LOL My kids make fun of my husband for talking to the rabbits-all 5 of them. And yes, we talk to the chickens too. :)

LL, so sorry i was worng!

No worries, TF. We dropped them both off at K9MomTo6's this afternoon. We will miss them, but they looked like they will have a blast there. Now we are back to just two of our three originals, but..... I think the CF will hit for a third before the end of the week. ;)

watch out, that CF often comes with rianstorms...

HA! I hope not... DH keeps me in line pretty well. If I ever get a piece of property, the story will be different. I'll be getting one of each, but until then, I just want three.

I called a guy that was showing at the county fair. I had intended to buy from him originally, but fell in love with the little chickies from that girl on Craigslist. Anywho... he still has 5 white leghorns, 3 sexlinks, and 1 Americana left. They are all about to lay, so they are close to the age of my girls. I've arranged to meet him on Tuesday evening.

I think I'm most interested in the Americana because of the green eggs and personalities... any thoughts? The two girls I have are pretty docile and sweet - I just don't want to mess up the dynamics too much!

NO, you need two of each, so you can have chicks!

as far as personality, it will depend more on the individual than on the breed, between the sex links and the amer. the leghorns wil be great egg machines for a couple years.... then you have to figure out what to do with them...

Won't there be a problem bringing in strangers into the flock? I know when I tried to re-introduce a hen that had been ill and spent a few weeks away from the others they tried to attack her when I brought her back. It took a lot to get them to accept her back.

MollyD

MollyD1953,
Ugh! Good question... I had thought that if I put them in in the middle of the night, it'd work out OK. I really want to have three girls -- I don't know why, but I just do. So I'm hoping it'll be OK. If this doesn't work out though I guess I'll have to just stick to two!

LL I did try the middle of the night thing. They knew and the next morning they went after her! Found her hiding in the coop, scared to death.

MollyD

The one that I'm considering getting is from a man that shows at the Clark Co. fair. She is a bit older than my two (6 months versus 4 or 5 months), but mine have the "home turf" advantage. I'm hoping that maybe with her being a bit older, but there being two of them familiar with the surroundings... maybe it'll even out?!?!

We'll see...

No idea if age will help. What you might try if they give you problems is putting the new gal in a puppy cage with bedding and food/water. Move her whole set into the hens coop. Let her live in the cage for a while till they get real use to her and then after about two weeks begin giving her time outs so you can see how your girls react. They may be so use to her by then they'll just accept her.

MollyD

Ok stupid question here, at what time should they start singing? I have these 4 chickens and I was told 2 were roo's. I gave away one that I thought was a roo, the man I bought them from had identified them. I got a call the next day that the "Roo" had layed a white egg. They brought her back, and although I have not gotten an egg, I dont hear them singing. I think the white egg came from thier chickens and they were mistaken.
Thanks
MJ

if you could post pics, i could help you ID them. if they are nearly old enough to lay eggs, there should be feather indicators of sex... all of mine "sing", both sexes. i even have a young male duck who whistles to me...

Don't trust her... TF thought mine was a girl! ha! Just kidding...

Mine was only 6 weeks when he started to cocka-doodle-doo! It was faint, but it was definitely a rooster call.

If you can, you should just wait to see if they start to "sing". That way you don't mistakenly give away the wrong one. If they are close to laying, they should start anytime...

TamaraFaye
I will go out today when I get home with the camera and shoot some pix. Any angle you would like them from?? That would be great to know what exactually I have...

SHe brought the chicken back and found a rooster somewhere else... My consern is that I have 4 roo's instead of 2.. Would like them to all be hens, but not with my luck.

Duh hit me with a chicken stick.. I ment not singing, I ment crowing... LOLOLOLthe do talk to me and do sing, I just have not heard any cocka-doodle-doo'ing

well depends on the breed, but i like to see the feathering from neck to tail pretty close. and head close.

also there are some other tricks, inlcuding SCs pelvic feeling, and HPs flip trick...

feet can be helpful too. especially all the feet togehter if they are the same brered and age...

and, of course, frontal head view ;-)