hen turned rooster question

[darcmayp]

I have a seabright that has decided it does not want to be a hen and is transforming rapidly (within one week she has gone from full girl to almost full comb and waddles.) I wanted to know if anyone knows if it is possible for s/he to be fertile. the other (real girl) is laying eggs and is thinking about going broody and I have high hopes this odd pair could produce more.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Check her eggs for fertility. Crack one or two into a bowl, and check out the yolk. If you see a small white bullseye, the egg is fertile. If all you see is the outside circle with no dot in the middle, its infertile. Sebrights are tricky to sex because the roosters are hen feathered (they don't have stringy hackles and sickles and have the same feather pattern as a hen). Good luck!

 

[FireTigeris]

If something happened to her ovary (only one develops- left as I recall) she might look like a rooster and even start crowing and grow feathers but she will not make any "seed", she is not equipped.

Birds are males by default (unlike mammals) so if something disrupts her being female she will look male but not actually be fertile.

Now if 'she' never laid eggs and maybe 'she' was never a female just not in 'her' rooster feathers that would be different.

 

[darcmayp]

well they are both a year old, so i know they were girls (we had a boy but he died) so im not worried that I got that wrong, but yeah I will be waiting to see how long it takes for s/he to fully change, I had one white rock do the same thing, turned into a boy at about 9 months and started mating, but since he lives with one other rooster ill never know if he is fertile. Ill be checking and updating since im sure there are others curious about this. thanks!

 

[darcmayp]

To be honest I dont think she has ever laid, but i cant be sure since they never did produce much, but the fact that they are a year old and as of one week ago she was a girl, and is now going to be a boy, i figure it has to be a sex change since thats a little old to not show gender.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Could you post a picture? As I stated in my previous post, a sebright rooster wont have the tell tale signs of a "normal" roo. They don't get the pointy feathers because they are a hen feathered breed. They'll have the same feathering as your hen. So its possible the chicken in question has always been a boy, and is not undergoing a sex change.

 

[darcmayp]

Okay one on the left looked EXACTLY like the one on the right a week ago. They will be 1 years old in a few days. they have now been named steve and eve. lol

 

[FireTigeris]

Think he's a shy boy, had a silkie that never crowed or mounted hens because I had other roosters, he dot out one day and crowd and food called and carried on ... Then I had to find a new home for him as the other Roos saw/heard the whole thing. He was alway a boy.

 

[sourland]

They are both hens.