Hen with spurs

shinn007 said:

I have a chicken, we thought was a rooster. It struts and grew spurs. One day I saw it lay an egg, i thought this can't be happening. Well the other day it was brooding, I scared it off the eggs it was sitting on. It went outside and proceeded to mount another hen and have sex. Later it was back sitting on eggs. Still not sure if it is male or female, but we named it - hesheit - just to be sure. It's very bizarre, don't think you are the only one. I was just goggling male/female chickens and only came up with a weird sight that has chickens that are literally half male and half female. That is not what is in my hen house
good luck

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I'm pretty sure if you saw it lay an egg it is a hen.

I know that some hens can be overly aggressive and display rooster like behavior, but roosters don't lay eggs.

In my experience, all hens have what I call "proto-spurs" - they have the scale on their legs that a spur would normally grow from, but it doesn't develop into a real spur like it does on a rooster. So anatomically, they all start out the same in that department, its just a matter of hormones that influences the development of the actual spur, just like combs, wattles and plumage. In roos they grow, in hens they don't, very much like human body hair. We all start out with peach fuzz all over, but at puberty, the males testosterone kicks in, they develop a beard and they get hairy arms, legs and (eeek!) backs. Same concept.

BUT that being said, there are different amounts of androgens in all females, some girls have more, some have less (that's why some women grow excess body hair, or develop other male like characteristics). I think this may happen in chickens as well which is why some hens grow spurs and some don't. I currently have 11 chickens, no roosters, and one of my hens has 3/4" blunt spurs on both legs. She is the one hen who doesn't mess with anyone, and no one messes with her, and she was last years champion layer. I've never seen her mount another hen, but she is starting to slow down her laying and her spurs have grown remarkably in the past 6 months. So maybe that has something to do with it.

I just realized today that one of my hens has spurs longer than any of my roosters!!! I had to look about 5 times to make sure I really saw what I thought I saw. They are a good 2 inches long.

HELP - My 7 month old pullet has spurs and trying to crow - Oh My!

I have 5 pullets all 7 months old. Three of them started laying for me in the middle of November. What I have been reading is good news about hens also having spurs, but.....I'm still confused about my Sicilian Buttercups change of behavior as well.
"Buttercup", which is my avatar picture, has also started to try to crow. It's a little off and different and mainly does it in the morning but the motions are about the same. Right when she gets up in the morning, she gets on the outside roost to say good morning. This morning she came to greet me at shoulder height when I noticed she had at least half inch plus spurs on her. How could I missed this? She has not started laying eggs yet but will squat down for me and is getting into the mating position with wings out, butt up, face turning redder, her vent is getting bigger and the feathers around it are coming off. Funny thing is her fake crowing started around the same time she started squatting down for me about 2 weeks ago.

I checked all my pullets to find my Wilsummer also has spurs but smaller. She as well has not started laying nor squats for me willingly. "Winnie" is my quietest gal but so was Buttercup before.

My 3 pullets that are laying have no spurs at all. Someone please tell me they are not late blooming roosters! I already had 2 of my "hens" come out to be roosters but they were barely 3 months old when I knew this.

THANK YOU ALL.


Buttercup, Sicilian Buttercup, 11/15/16



Winnie, Welsummer, 11/15/16

@Southpaw Power Welcome to BYC!
This is an old thread, did you read the whole thing, your answers may be there already.
......and start a new thread with pics of entire birds, showing side veiws and legs, in the what gender forum to get answers for your specific birds.

I have a RHR hen with 1/4" spurs... they've actually been growing lately, she's about 1yr old. She lays almost daily, is overly independent; she's sorta parallel to the pecking order; won't impose but won't take crap either.

She's also the tamest of my hens, she's easy to pet and pick up anytime. Nothing seems to scare her.

When my bantam rooster tries to mount her, she let's him climb and instead of laying down, she squats up and shakes him off like wet weather... testosterone?