# Do you know if our New Hampshire is a rooster?



## michhobu (Nov 27, 2014)

Hi there,

New to the forum and new to raising backyard chickens in general. Bit of background, we took the plunge and added 4 young chooks to our family about 3 months ago. They came to us around 10-12wks old.

1 Araucana, 1 araucana mix, 1 bantam and a new hampshire. They are all doing well and 2 are laying lovely eggs most days.

Reason we're reaching out though is that we are wondering if our new hampshire is a rooster? She has grown rapidly, we got her 2 weeks after the others and now she towers over the other 3. Really long legs. Some of her feathers (saddle, long and pointy) seem to indicate she is a rooster but we are really new to this whole chicken raising thing so I've attached some photos and any advice at all would be much appreciated. 

Thank you!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't see it but then I'm a Silkie person and never paid much attention to hard feathered birds. I would expect to see more in the saddle feathers than I see in your bird. If they're old enough to be laying then the red should be old enough to crow.


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## michhobu (Nov 27, 2014)

Thanks robin416 for your reply. She is not laying yet and not crowing but the chickens are very noisy in general. Much noiser than we expected hens to be.

We are hopeful she is just a bigger breed but she is dominant and definitely queen of the coop. The saddle and tail feathers have us concerned and we'll see how they continue to develop. Hopefully she will just lay an egg and put our worries to rest. We hope she is a hen as we live in Australia and we can't have roosters in the city due to noise. We'd be sad to lose her.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Hens absolutely do not have pointed saddle feathers at all. If you are seeing them, it is a boy. When the birds are young, and they first start coming in, you'll get that half and half look that your bird seems to be showing (if those are pointed feathers under the wing tip, I can't see clearly), but if you see obviously long skinny pointy feathers on its saddle, it is a boy. 

If those are saddle feathers I see, I'd say this bird is only 12-14 weeks old, it's very odd. By 6 months you should have absolutely no doubt what sex it is. Are these pics recent?


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

For comparison, this cockerel is roughly the same age as the NH (2-3 weeks older by my math). He is from very slow maturing lines and is still in his awkward teenage phase, and will be for another 3-4 months. However, it is blatantly obvious he is male.


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## nj2wv (Aug 27, 2013)

My guess is a rooster. This is my young rooster Lord Nelson. He was born around April 20th. He doesn't crow yet.


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## littlelimabean (Oct 21, 2014)

I am going to just base this on the way the feathers are colored , I think you have a boy. Sometimes is is very obvious when you have a rooster and when we all question is it a boy or a girl it usually turns out to be a girl in my experience. You will know soon enough. I tell you, I had one that was a chick who matured quite quickly, NEVER peeped as a chick was tall and thin and quite confident in their demeanor. I thought that chicken was a boy for 4 months!! Nope, a hen. keep us up to date on your New Hampshire.


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## michhobu (Nov 27, 2014)

Thanks everyone, still very unsure...we might give it a bit more time and I am sure all will be revealed. Will update when we know.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Does it have skinny pointed saddle feathers? That will give you the answer right away.


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## michhobu (Nov 27, 2014)

Just an update, we returned the NH to the breeder today. Pretty certain he is a rooster now, in fact as soon as he met another rooster they reared up and confronted each other. 

Very sad to see him go but we are told he will have a good life on the farm with the breeder. We got a Rhode Island Red (hopefully hen) as a replacement. Fingers crossed this time. Thanks all for your help.


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