featheredplanets
Crowing
There are some cases where a hen becomes a fully functioning rooster due to the lack of roosters in a flock, where they stop laying eggs and begin fertilizing them. The rooster can take its testes and turn them into ovaries, causing them to be able to lay eggs.
Male to female chickens haven’t been reported and they could not turn their testes into ovaries. And while hens can turn into roosters, it’s not possible for them to fertilise eggs.
@NatJ @momma chickie If you are interested in reading up more on how it is possible for female chickens to change into mule male chickens, I found this:
-“That's because the mechanics of this biological phenomenon seem to work in only one direction. Normally, female chickens have just one functional ovary, on their left side. Although two sex organs are present during the embryonic stages of all birds, once a chicken's female genes kick in, it typically develops only the left ovary. The right gonad, which has yet to be defined as an ovary, testes, or both (called an ovotestis), typically remains dormant.
Certain medical conditions—such as an ovarian cyst, tumor or diseased adrenal gland—can cause a chicken's left ovary to regress. In the absence of a functional left ovary, the dormant right sex organ may begin to grow, according to Mike Hulet, an associate professor at Penn State University's department of poultry science.
"If the activated right gonad is an ovotestis or testes, it will begin secreting androgens," Hulet told Life's Little Mysteries. Androgens are the class of hormones that are largely responsible for male characteristics and are normally secreted by the testes. "The production of androgen would cause the hen to undergo behavioral changes and make it act more like a rooster."
The hen does not completely change into a rooster, however. This transition is limited to making the bird phenotypically male, meaning that although the hen will develop physical characteristics that will make her look male, she will remain genetically female. So while the hen will no longer lay eggs, she won't be fathering any offspring, either.”