Confession: I just realized a 3yo hen is actually not a hen

[QChickieMama]

Has she always had the few hackle and saddle feathers?
Sometimes as hens age their ovary starts to fail, then testosterone can spur(haha) male feathering and/or behaviors.

I've not noticed them exactly.
I did notice her today sitting in the nest.

 

[NanaK]

Looks girlie to me.

 

[Isadora]

Yep, and some hens grow spurs and start crowing too.

I have a very pretty colored layer who has spurs. They're not very large and she doesn't exhibit any other male type behaviors like crowing or extra dominance but I thought the spurs were interesting.

 

[Chickassan]

Ok, I'm thinking I'm seeing a few little feathers trying to grow out of Glady's legs.
Am I correct or am I tripping?
They aren't huge, just barely poking through the scales.
I'm going somewhere with this, or I'm at least attempting to lol!

I don't. I bought 4 hens together but I can't even remember where I got them. Two are RIR, Harriet is small and all white, and Gladys is mixed tan/white. My notes say that at 6mos, they were all laying 1/day.

Here's a profile shot of her today:

 

[theoldchick]

The original photo is a hen. Dominant hens will mount other hens and seem quite ornery at times. Older hens going through henopause may even grow spurs and crow. I have several older hens and one who has experienced henopause developed a large comb, wattles and a dominant attitude including crowing. She squabbled quite a bit with the dominant hen so I moved her to another coop where the dominant hen is a 9 lb Jersey Giant who quickly resolved who was now dominant. On the other hand, I have spayed hen (Sapphire Gem) who is three years old. She looks much like a Capon and is a really easy going bird. She was spayed at a 2 years old when she suffered from Salpingitis. I donated her for teaching purposes and was quite surprised to get her back. Anyway, she has not developed any male characteristics or tried to crow.

 

[QChickieMama]

Ok, I'm thinking I'm seeing a few little feathers trying to grow out of Glady's legs.
Am I correct or am I tripping?
They aren't huge, just barely poking through the scales.
I'm going somewhere with this, or I'm at least attempting to lol!

What would leg feathers mean? I have cochin mix girls who have super fluffy legs.

And FWIW, Gladys laid a blue egg today. Haha. Not a male! Also saw her mounting a girl later. So weird.

 

[Chickassan]

She looks like she may have a super fluffy breed mixed in like cochin or perhaps Faverolles to me and that may be where those roosterish pointy feathers are coming from.
Iv'e also got several crowing Fav hens so those poofy birds tend to throw some interesting things into mixes.
Hehe,I knew she was a lady lol.

What would leg feathers mean? I have cochin mix girls who have super fluffy legs.

And FWIW, Gladys laid a blue egg today. Haha. Not a male! Also saw her mounting a girl later. So weird.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

That bird looks like a cockerel to me, but it may be the light making the shoulders look suspiciously "not laced".

Stares intensely at chicken. Pulls up computer and looks at photo. Smh. That's totally Pumpkin Pie the cockerel (left orange band) not Pumpkin Bread the pullet (right orange band)

No more phone photo posting for me

 

[rosemarythyme]

Stares intensely at chicken. Pulls up computer and looks at photo. Smh. That's totally Pumpkin Pie the cockerel (left orange band) not Pumpkin Bread the pullet (right orange band)

No more phone photo posting for me

If you don't know your Pumpkins then we sure don't.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

There is no such thing as this.

It’s rare, but it has happened. There have been cases of hermaphrodite chickens.