They were big birds. At 10 weeks of age when I bought them, they were already bigger than my Leghorn and almost as big as the Naked Necks.
Well, it turns out one of my 'hens' ain't. She's a rooster.
A couple weeks ago I started having my suspicions, but I'd bought something like 10 pullets over the years from the same place and I know sexing chicks is a crapshoot, but they'd never gotten the sexing wrong before.
I figured something was off because this 'pullet' was a little aggressive - it would get all bowed up with its sisters and get right up on them blowing out its hackles and pushing its chest out to them. Then there's the fact that the hackle feathers are pointed instead of being rounded at the tips. No spurs yet, but there are bumps where they'd be - matter of fact, all three of them have them.
Me being the optimistic fool that I am, I figured "Okay, maybe it's a lesbian chicken" so I named it Butch. As long as 'she' laid eggs, I didn't care what it identified as. Rainbow Power, Pride Month, Live and Let Live, right?
Then this morning, 'she' started crowing. It was a weak, sickly start-up crow, but it was undeniably a crow. Then 'she' did it again.
Fuck.
It may be a blessing in disguise, though. Butch and his sisters are terrified by the Naked Necks to the point that I haven't been able to integrate the two flocks together, even after several tries. When I try to introduce the Freedom Rangers into the bigger coop, the Naked Necks tear right into them and don't let up to the point that they draw blood and I have to separate them to keep them from pecking the Freedom Rangers to death.
I figure to give them another month or two until Butch grows bigger balls and gets protective of his sisters, then try again. Jane, Annie and the Broody Bitch are going to be in for one hell of a surprise.
