crowing hen-how to stop it?

[kingpincray]

Really???!!!That's is very fascinating but I hope that doesn't happen to mine. She is growing a couple of longer tail feathers at the moment I just noticed this morning.

 

[silkiechicken]

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It happens in chickens, but the difference is that it is not "normal" per se. It is usually a hormonal imbalance set off by some environmental factor or tumor on the ovaries.

 

[rainbowgardens]

I read in one of my books that some are able to fertilize eggs.

 

[NYREDS]

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What book please? As far as I know "crowing Hens" are a result of a hormone imbalance usually caused by a cyst or tumor on the ovaries. I do not know of any documented instance of a hen developing testes.

 

[kingpincray]

I found this article on the web on a hen that turned into a rooster.

http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/hen-who-become-rooster-0

 

[ninny]

When i keep hens with no roos one will always take the place of the roo. Her comb and wattles will get larger, more red. She will start to grow more rooster looking feathers. And yes she will crow. The other hens will start to act as though she is a rooster. She will start to behave as a rooster as well. I have even notice lone hens develop these tendencies. It is also not unheard of in waterfowl.

 

[ninny]

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That seems like two different birds. When my hens change they still look like hens. Just odd looking. The change is never that big.

 

[tiffster011]

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Hmm, I didn't think they had the correct parts for that.

 

[rainbowgardens]

Oops, Sorry, it wasn't in a book, but the 2007 September issue of Practical Poultry. Page 43, in an article about molting called All Change, written by Bob Cross.

"Lastly, although rare, poultry have been known to change sex. When this happens it's usually as a result of the reproductive organs having been destroyed by disease. The change becomes more evident after the moult, when the new feathers develop to present the bird in it's re-gendered form.
Professor Crewe, at Edinburgh University, observed a productive buff Orpington hen that, at three and a half years old, took on the appearance of a male, and sired chicks the following year. A similar case was reported by Armsdorf in 1947, and concerned a New Hampshire Red hen which changed in the same way. On both occasions post-mortem examination revealed the ovary had been destroyed and an oviduct damaged by disease, these being replaced by testes and vas deferens which proved functional."

 

[kingpincray]

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I assume it will stop laying as well?