Crowing Hen (And she's a hen FOR SURE)

[thornwing]

So I went down to the coop a couple mornings ago, and my BB red hen, Little Girl, was crowing!! I've had Little Girl for a few years now, and she's laid eggs, I've witnessed this. She's gone broody, she's everything a hen is supposed to be, so....
why did she crow?? I havent heard her ever since, but it was soo weird....
I just heard my roo's normal crow, and then this different voice, and saw it was her!!
Weirdest thing ever!!


I've seen this in peacocks, but it seems more common. Males make the normal, eerie calls (ee-aww, ee-aww, ee-aww!), and one day while in the yard with a peahen that was acting very strange...(she was on the other side of the fence, instead of flying over, she would pace ALL day, and I mean, ALL day, she'd wake up, pace all day, roost, then do it again the next day, and laid an egg in the middle of her now worn down pacing trail by the fence), she made the male sound and I was surprised....

Maybe some dominant hens take on male characteristics?

Little girl is the dominant hen of the coop.

 

[Mahonri]

I had a dominant hen before I got a roo that almost crowed like a roo.

She was much louder than the 6 roos I have at present.

We rehomed her.

 

[Mare]

When I first got my EE hen and went out in the morning to let the chickens out of the coop I also had a surprise. There she was crowing away in the coop

. This was my first month in raising chickens so I didn't know what was going on, plus she hadn't laid any eggs yet. I actually contacted the person I bought her from and asked if she gave me the right one and not a rooster. She stated that the EE was a hen and that she was laying eggs before I bought her. Sure enough a week later she started laying eggs and she is the dominant hen.

 

[thornwing]

It must be a dominant hen thing then

weird....

She hasn't done it since, and never before. She just suddenly crowed twice one morning, and then that was that. hahah

Unless she was having some demonic seizure :| hahah jk

 

[pgpoultry]

She was showing her masculine side.

Dominant hens occasionally do as a way of getting their status recognised.

Sandie

 

[Jiff]

I have heard of this before, although none of my girls have done it. However, when one of them starts singing the egg song, I have a rooster who will start singing it too--and he sounds just like them! It's kind of strange.

 

[thornwing]

Oh all of my roosters have sung the egg song, its like a warning song also...pretty common at least with all males ive had

 

[Raven81]

if you have a roo & take him away the dominant hen will take his place ( looking out for the other girls, finding food & calling them ) & may even start crowing it is quite common ive even heard of them going off the lay... add another roo & it changes again. its all to do with pecking order & domanance. the roo is dom if no roo its up to the head girl to do his job.

 

[Judy]

Yeah, I had this happen, too, before I had a mature roo. It was a crow, but kind of a weird one. Hers wasn't a loud crow, not louder than my roos make. She was the dominant hen. She would also mount other hens as if mating them; saw her do this a number of times, and I've read on here of dominant hens doing this. These behaviors stopped when a roo grew up enough to crow and mate. I don't know whether she stopped laying.

 

[sourland]

"Whistling girls and crowing hens come to no good end."