Can female quail change their gender to male?

[Chickengirl1223]

Recently I removed my male quail from my Coturnix quail flock because they were hurting the females.

I noticed, a month later, that one of my females was jumping on the other females in an attempt to mate with them.

I immediately vent sexed her/him and determined that it was now a male, due to the foam excreted from her/his vent.

I am doing a science project on sex change in quail, and I was wondering if anyone knows if this quail is now a fertile male?
Has anyone had similar experiences with birds?
Any information is much appreciated.

 

[R2elk]

Recently I removed my male quail from my Coturnix quail flock because they were hurting the females.

I noticed, a month later, that one of my females was jumping on the other females in an attempt to mate with them.

I immediately vent sexed her/him and determined that it was now a male, due to the foam excreted from her/his vent.

I am doing a science project on sex change in quail, and I was wondering if anyone knows if this quail is now a fertile male?
Has anyone had similar experiences with birds?
Any information is much appreciated.

If it is a functioning male now, it was always a male whether or not you were able to previously diagnose it as a male. It is not uncommon for late developing males to be misdiagnosed as females at the normal age that males should be displaying their male characteristics and behaviors.

Female birds have one fully functioning ovary. If that ovary becomes non-functioning due to disease, injury, etc. the secondary ovary can produce testosterone causing the outward appearance to change from female characteristics to male characteristics and behavior. It cannot produce sperm and therefore its change is in appearance and behavior only and it cannot turn into a fully functioning male.

 

[Fishkeeper]

What you're describing, an animal changing sex, is called sequential hermaphroditism. It's seen in many plants, many gastropods, and a few fish. For example, all clownfish are born male, and the largest of the group will develop into a female. If that female dies, the next largest male will become a female.
Sequential hermaphroditism does not, however, occur in any birds. As was said above, if that quail is a functional male, it was always a male.

 

[Fishkeeper]

I think whatever site you got that off of is wrong. Vertebrate animals, with very few exceptions, do not change their physical sex. They can change behaviors, and can change secondary sexual characteristics (like how a trans woman on estrogen can develop breasts), but the gonads (ovaries and testicles) do not change.

 

[R2elk]

So, because the testosterone can cause the cells that resemble the right ovary, to change into a testis, the male can be fertile and produce seamen.

This is the part that is not true. The ovary cannot change into a testes and cannot produce sperm. Whatever site you are getting this information from is inaccurate. While the Internet is a great source of information, there is lots of false information posted.

All the rest is true about the testosterone, the appearance change and the behavior change.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you very much for your explination, it is very helpful.
This quail that I think changed its gender, layed eggs for at least a month and only suposedly became male when it was 4months old.
Whilst I am not a very experienced with vent sexing, I did notice a distinctive change in behaviour and feather pattern.
According to some websites, this can occur if the left ovary is damaged because the left ovary is the only one producing oestrogen, which also suppresses the male hormones.
If the left ovary is damaged and dies, there is nothing left to suppress the male hormones (and much like a woman with more testosterone) the quail becomes more masculine.
The undeveloped right overy, can sometimes change into a testis, because it reacts with the unsupressed male hormones.
The quail is apparently now a fertile male.

I am also not completly sure about this, so I am taking the quail to have blood taken and be sexed by blood instead.
Thank you everyone for your helpful comments.

While female birds can take on the appearance of and behavior of a male because of the ovary problems, they cannot become a fertile male because they cannot produce semen.

 

[Chickengirl1223]

What you're describing, an animal changing sex, is called sequential hermaphroditism. It's seen in many plants, many gastropods, and a few fish. For example, all clownfish are born male, and the largest of the group will develop into a female. If that female dies, the next largest male will become a female.
Sequential hermaphroditism does not, however, occur in any birds. As was said above, if that quail is a functional male, it was always a male.

Thank you very much for your explination, it is very helpful.
This quail that I think changed its gender, layed eggs for at least a month and only suposedly became male when it was 4months old.
Whilst I am not a very experienced with vent sexing, I did notice a distinctive change in behaviour and feather pattern.
According to some websites, this can occur if the left ovary is damaged because the left ovary is the only one producing oestrogen, which also suppresses the male hormones.
If the left ovary is damaged and dies, there is nothing left to suppress the male hormones (and much like a woman with more testosterone) the quail becomes more masculine.
The undeveloped right overy, can sometimes change into a testis, because it reacts with the unsupressed male hormones.
The quail is apparently now a fertile male.

I am also not completly sure about this, so I am taking the quail to have blood taken and be sexed by blood instead.
Thank you everyone for your helpful comments.

 

[Fishkeeper]

You're right about everything except the changing of the gonad. Testosterone is NOT what causes a testes to be a testes. The difference between the gonads is present in animals far before they hit puberty and sexual development.

 

[Doathing]

I think whatever site you got that off of is wrong. Vertebrate animals, with very few exceptions, do not change their physical sex. They can change behaviors, and can change secondary sexual characteristics (like how a trans woman on estrogen can develop breasts), but the gonads (ovaries and testicles) do not change.

Purely speaking about humans (by no means do I know what I'm talking about in birds), ovaries and testes change with the introduction of the opposite hormone. Trans women stop producing semen and their dick often shrinks. Trans men frequently become infertile (like myself) with cessation of menstruation and our bodies attempt to grow male organs (max 3 inches). Pcos (highly common in the trans male community) is an example of a condition were females can present male secondary sex characteristics. That all being said, I know chicken scratch about birds hormones and can't say if any of that is actually relavent.

 

[Stiletto]

This quail that I think changed its gender, layed eggs for at least a month and only suposedly became male when it was 4months old.

How are you certain that the quail in question was laying eggs?

Writing often does not convey tone, so I'd like to make it clear that I'm not trying to be confrontational here. I am curious.

The most likely scenario is that you made a mistake when you initially sexed that bird; I'd like to understand how you are absolutely sure that this is not what happened.