Transgendered chicken

[Sill]

I have a Red Sex Link hen that I've raised from a chick. Since she was a pullet she has been trying to crow, though it sounds more like a dying cow than a real rooster crow. A couple of months ago she started mating with the other hens. In the last few weeks I've noticed that she is starting to grow spurs!



None of the other RSLs have anything like that on their legs. I think her comb and wattles are growing bigger too.

I rarely see her in a nest box, and come to think of it I'm not sure when the last time was that I saw her in one, but she may still be laying the occasional egg.

Is there anything that can be done to keep her transformation from advancing? I knew that hens can "change" into roosters, but are still genetically hens. It's just weird to see it happening in my own backyard.

 

[sunflour]

There's nothing you can do to stop or correct this. Here's link to a scientific article on the subject:

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00003037/00001

 

[azygous]

To a varying degree, many hens will sport sexual characteristics of roosters. In my own flock I have one hen with three-quarter inch spurs and a huge comb and wattles, another hen with huge comb and wattles that has perfected a crow that is a very acceptable imitation of a rooster crow, and another older hen who had to have her extremely over-developed comb partially dubbed because it was being ripped off her scalp because the others didn't like that it was so huge.

All are normal layers. None of them are the way they are due to the presence or lack of a rooster. This is simply how it is with some hens. It's not as unusual as many people think.