CAN HEN TURN INTO ROO?!?!?!

[aroostercalledBrownie]

I heard that this can happen! hen molted completely, grew back rooster looking feathers! completely different from the ones she had before! not laying for a while after the last roo left!

 

[MokiYoki]

The leg colour change makes sense if she went from laying to a non-laying pseodo-rooster. When a chicken lays the yellow pigment is drawn out of the skin, starting with the cloaca and ending at the beak, so good laying hens turn from yellow to white.
I have a hen that turns semi-rooster every time she moults, and a little even when laying. She crows, mounts hens, and her comb even goes from being floppy to upright. Its pretty fascinating. But she never goes ALL the way over to a "he".
In your hen's case Id suspect she has actual damage to her ovary rather than a simple hormone fluctuation. It could be from infection, tumors or some other damage that may or may not be finished. So without direction she is swapping to default chicken which is rooster.

 

[aroostercalledBrownie]

How old is bird, in months?
Before and after pics?

Before:

After:

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I heard that this can happen! hen molted completely, grew back rooster looking feathers! completely different from the ones she had before! not laying for a while after the last roo left!

A hen will never produce sperm and be able to fertilize an egg. But they can take on some male traits when an ovary is damaged or quits working and they aren't getting their correct level of hormones any more. Females always have some testosterone... but when there is too much it or not enough estrogen it can cause things to go a bit hay wire... including growing in male saddle feathers.

Spurs can happen on any hen though... and my friend has several older hatchery hens... rock, wyandottes, and orps... that sport spurs in their old age even while actively laying still.

One of my hens.. that achieved pet status... had quit laying eggs a while back... and even crows once in a while... I was shocked AND thrilled when to my surprise she has started laying eggs again this year after coming out of molt! She has always been head hen, roosters seek her out and win her over when added. She has never tried courting or mounting another hen.

I did have one pullet who insisted on mounting subordinates... she is history.

 

[so lucky]

No, but if there is no roo with the girls, one of them might take on some male tendencies. Like "Well, somebody's gotta boss these girls around!"
I was just thinking of crowing, bullying, feathers, but maybe spurs, too.

 

[nicalandia]

On chickens Roosters are ZZ and Hens is ZW, when the W chromosome gets damaged due to genetic or external causes the hens will start to turn into roosters but they cant produce Testicles .

 

[tn_artist]

So would this be Munchausen by chicken?

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Yep, it can happen. But I don't think a hen can turn truly into a rooster..... they still are hen inside. But yes, they can crow, grow different feathers, grow spurs, and other things that rooster have....

I think they also stop laying eggs sometimes.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

That's what I just said.....

 

[eulogos]

I had a hen that used to lay eggs, genuine hen, but then it grew a larger comb and wattles, and spurs, and a little bit of tail feathers. I am not sure whether it crows as there are a lot of roosters out there making noise. This is different from when there are no roosters and a hen takes that role. A dominant hen will challenge a rooster if you introduce one. I had one that kept trying and got pretty beat up. But she usually still looks like a hen and lays eggs. I have also had roosters that pretended to be hens, got in the nest boxes and made the I laid an egg noise. Of course, they didn’t. I did not start calling those roosters she. But my hen that grew spurs? I avoid the issue. He/she is quite attractive and I am not trying to make money with these chickens so he/she is still around.