BSL stopped laying...is she a 'dud'?

[poppyflock]

Check her vent by lifting up her tail feathers. if she's laying it will be huge and moist. Also don't overlook she may have turned into an egg eater, if her vent looks like she's laying. GC

I checked her vent, not moist and only 1 1/2 fingers between the two pin bones (I think that's the term), which is another reason why I don't think she's laying. Pretty sure she's not eating eggs as all the other eggs are untouched. Plus I'm home during the day pretty frequently and haven't seen her in an egg box in quite a while. Thanks for the suggestions though!

 

[poppyflock]

@aart I think you might be right about the male hormones. In hindsight, it seems like her comb has really grown in size and become more red over the last few months! I also noticed that the crowing has coincided with our buff orpington starting to go broody. She's been in the nest box for the past two days, and for a few days prior to that, Rosa (the crowing hen) was chasing her around while the BO puffed up her feathers and tried to get away. Not sure if it's all related or not but chasing the broody around seems like it could be rooster-like behavior...mainly the crowing.

Does anyone have tips for how to stop the crowing (and start her laying again!)? We can't have roosters in our neighborhood - and I assume that also applies to hens that crow at the crack of dawn! haha.

 

[aart]

Boy, I don't know how you'd change that change back.
I haven't read up much on crowing hens, or if any valid testing/research has been done on it that would offer a viable solution. @centrarchid might know.

Other flock members often harass broodies because they are 'acting different'.

 

[centrarchid]

Such is outside my experience. All of my hens have capacity to crow and do so when caring for chicks but it is very different from what Rosa does. Hormonal embalance leaning towards male end of spectrum very plausible. Scientific studies of what I see not likely because very little if any commercial breeding employs broody hens and what Rosa does on egg production would have her culled to be replaced by a hen that does produce eggs, likely before the crowing really got underway.