Black breasted chick turned out to be a hen (?)

[Ylva]

Haha! Maybe they’re just identifying as a hen.
I’ll post another update when he lays his first egg, or when she starts crowing!
She is about 16-17 weeks now, and exactly the same size as her sisters.
If he is a rooster, he’s still the prettiest (and weirdest) bird I’ve ever hatched. So I guess I’ll have to keep him anyway.

 

[Ylva]

The other pullets from this hatch has the same large, red combs and wattles as this chicken.

 

[Holdthechicken]

The other pullets from this hatch has the same large, red combs and wattles as this chicken. View attachment 3568107View attachment 3568108

this isn’t a cockerel as well?

 

[Ylva]

this isn’t a cockerel as well?

I hatched 8 chicks from the same parents. Five of the chicks had larger combs than the chickens pictured above over a month ago, and obvious male feathering. I only got three pullets, so if these are roosters as well, I got 8/8 roosters in this hatch. The parent birds were early bloomers, and have large combs as adults. Their mother started laying eggs at about 4,5 months (just a little bit older than these birds are now), and she looked the same as this pullet at 16-17 weeks.

Their brothers looked like this 11 weeks ago:

 

[Holdthechicken]

I hatched 8 chicks from the same parents. Five of the chicks had larger combs than the chickens pictured above over a month ago, and obvious male feathering. I only got three pullets, so if these are roosters as well, I got 8/8 roosters in this hatch. The parent birds were early bloomers, and have large combs as adults. Their mother started laying eggs at about 4,5 months (just a little bit older than these birds are now), and she looked the same as this pullet at 16-17 weeks.

Their brothers looked like this 11 weeks ago:
View attachment 3568208

They are cute birds! I would have guessed boys for them as well but sounds like you’ll be sure soon enough !

 

[Saveria]

There are intersex chickens that will have some features of both sexes, which is what this one looks like to me. It is rare, but it does happen. We'll have to wait and see!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

There are intersex chickens that will have some features of both sexes, which is what this one looks like to me. It is rare, but it does happen. We'll have to wait and see!

Are you talking about birds that actually have chromosomes other than WZ or ZZ? Or just Henfeathered Males or Females that have secondary male traits?

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

When you start really mixing the genetics, all sorts of random starts coming out. This is my hen, looks nothing like her sisters or brothers (who are long gone). She is 7 months old. Her father was a partridge rock who I suspect was developed with brown leghorn. And her mother is who the heck knows she is a hen that just showed up. By some stroke of fate, all my chicks from that rooster ended up being silver/gold sex links, all the hens I used as genetic mothers must have had silver!

Her mother:

 

[Saveria]

Are you talking about birds that actually have chromosomes other than WZ or ZZ? Or just Henfeathered Males or Females that have secondary male traits?

Here is a link about it. I'm not sure about the genetics side of things, but it is a chicken that has both female and male reproductive organs present. They may not both work properly, in fact it sounded like usually neither did.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-have-an-androgynous-chicken.1504007/

I was interested in the topic because I was living on a farm where a barn yard mix hen both crowed and laid eggs. She/he had a few scraggly hackle feathers that were green and a scratchy little crow. I moved away soon after and never found out about the genetic make up of the bird, but I always remember that experience.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Now that I’ve seen her adult feathering, I believe she’s a pullet. I’ve seen other hens with similar colorations, just never expected them to look duckwing as adolescents.