can chickens be both gender?

[chicken3fly]

i know all my chickens r hens but i was just wondering

 

[TheOddOneOut]

i know all my chickens r hens but i was just wondering

If you know all are hens, why are you asking?
It can happen, called a bilateral gynandromorph, but is so, so, so rare. And a BG cannot reproduce.

 

[NatJ]

If you mean, for breeding purposes: either the bird is male, or it is female, never both. If it ever lays an egg, it will never father a chick. If it ever fathers a chick, it will never lay an egg.

I have read that occasionally a hen will have some kind of hormonal problem, grow rooster-style feathers, and start to crow: but she still never fathers chicks. And if the hormone problem is fixed, she'll grow normal feathers at the next molt, and may go back to laying eggs. (Although I think she may continue to crow--it appears that once a chicken starts crowing, it gets to be a habit, and nothing really stops them.)

And there are a few breeds (like Sebrights) where the males are "hen-feathered." The roosters grow the same kind of feathers that hens do, but the roosters still crow, and still father chicks.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

If you mean, for breeding purposes: either the bird is male, or it is female, never both. If it ever lays an egg, it will never father a chick. If it ever fathers a chick, it will never lay an egg.

I have read that occasionally a hen will have some kind of hormonal problem, grow rooster-style feathers, and start to crow: but she still never fathers chicks. And if the hormone problem is fixed, she'll grow normal feathers at the next molt, and may go back to laying eggs. (Although I think she may continue to crow--it appears that once a chicken starts crowing, it gets to be a habit, and nothing really stops them.)

And there are a few breeds (like Sebrights) where the males are "hen-feathered." The roosters grow the same kind of feathers that hens do, but the roosters still crow, and still father chicks.

x2.

 

[Jersey giant lover]

they can change gender from female to male

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

they can change gender from female to male

But not male to female

 

[momma chickie]

In all my life I have never seen nor heard of a chicken "changing it's sex". I have had hens crow and take on a "rooster" role in an all hen flock but she is still a hen and she still lays eggs...she does not become a rooster physically!

 

[Jersey giant lover]

not that anyone has seen

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

In all my life I have never seen nor heard of a chicken "changing it's sex". I have had hens crow and take on a "rooster" role in an all hen flock but she is still a hen and she still lays eggs...she does not become a rooster physically!

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.

 

[NatJ]

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.

Where can I read more about this? I never heard of it before. (I know there are some kinds of animals that really do change gender--but I never heard of it before with chickens.)