Crowing Hen...Will she ever stop?!

[JenW]

I'm definitely not a chicken expert by any means, but I'm 90% certain my chicken is a hen. When I got my 3 chickens back in march as babies I was hoping for all hens. One of my silkies ended up being a rooster. Recently he had started crowing & due to city regulations I had to find him a new home. I replaced him with a new hen, and now one of my original hens (the bigger unknown breed...I'm thinking she's an EE) has started crowing! I have taken her to my local feed store about a month ago to ask if she was a hen or a roo & they confirmed she was a hen. So now I'm back to square one with a crowing hen & would like to know if anyone out there with experience in this. Will she ever stop? I really don't want to give her up only to find one of my other hens will do the same thing! Plus I'm pretty attached to her. Any input would be appreciated!

 

[JenW]

Sorry guys I didn't realize this was the "new egg" section...I'm still trying to figure out navigating this site!

 

[Den in Penn]

Says at the top of this forum "chicken behaviors and egglaying", and crowing is a chicken behavior. Never had a crowing hen. From what I hear she may keep doing it until the flock dynamics change.

 

[gaitngirl]

I had an Easter Egger/Ameraucana (he was in the Araucana pullet bin) pullet start to crow recently but it turns out she is definitely a he. And, unless the person at the feed store where you bought your birds at is an expert . . . you most likely have a young roo, too. Just because you bought your birds out of the pullet bin doesn't mean they will be girls. They can be hard to sex when they are young even for those with a lot of experience. And, if the chick bins aren't kept covered or supervised to keep mischievous hands out of the bins, chicks get mixed around. I went in to the local Family Farm and Home during Chick Days this spring to find two boys picking the chicks out of each bin and putting them in the other bins. The parents were 3 ft. away not paying any attention at all. They put one little barred rock in with the bronze turkeys and stood there laughing as it ran for it's life from the turkeys. The turkeys were only a few days older but much larger than the barred rock (who might have been 2 days old) and they nearly killed it. It had nowhere to run - it was surrounded by over 2 dz. turkey chicks. It's poor face was a bloody mess by the time I realized just what they had done and got it out of there! Because of all the blood it couldn't even go back into it's own original bin. An employee there set it up in it's own bin until it recovered and they could clean it up (couldn't use the blue spray because of the wounds being so close to it's eyes and nostrils). I suggested several times when I went in that the bins needed to be covered so that unsupervised children couldn't do this again but nothing was done until several others complained, too. Too many parents dump their kids off to 'play' with the chicks while they continue to shop or ignore their little angels. Even in supervised settings (the local Tractor Supply corrals their bins of chicks and has an employee in attendance) chicks can still get mixed up sometimes. I've seen distracted or new employees accidentally put chicks in bins that they didn't come out of.

The alternative, of course, is that you have a pullet with hormonal/dominance issues. It does happen from what I've read.

 

[Leghornmum]

You should be proud of your responsible hen! she's taking over the duty of Rooster! Hens WILL do this believe it or not...

giver your hen a thumbs-up for me!

 

[JenW]

I actually took in this particular chicken from someone off Craigslist giving it away free bc the newness wore off for the kids they bought it for. They should really put a stop to dying the cute lil chicks for people to buy, its like people don't realize that they become full grown chickens that poo a lot. But that's beside the point. My regular feed store must have been doing things wrong all together then. There is no separate bin for chicks. It's one big mixed up overcrowded bin & you have to call someone over to even tell you what breed they are. Then they say their too young to sex. Guess that's why (among other things obviously) they can no longer buy/sell live animals anymore. I wish I could figure out how to upload a pic of herhim on here so you could see. I did upload one to my albums but don't know how to transfer it anywhere. I'm limited by only having my phone for internet. Anyway thanks, I guess if I get a complaint I'll deal with it when the time comes.

 

[leadwolf1]

You need to post a picture...I'm pretty sure what you have, at 16 weeks, is a crowing rooster. A pic of the front of the head and a side shot of the body would be all we would need to clarify hen or roo.

 

[Tigertrea]

I have a hen who is trying to crow also. One of my Columbian Corsses. I have 3, they are all about the same size and have the same feathering. I am 99.9% certain it is a hen. They are 15weeks now and she has been doing it for about 2 weeks. My 2 BR roos have yet to crow though! One of my roos is dominant but, this hen seems to be the dominant hen. She does take care of the hens she likes (and basically ignores the ones she doesn't unless they get in her way lol). Both of my roos are bossy, food hogs who will chase everyone away from choice bits. Well, the 2 Black sex linked and the 2 RRs. The 3 CCs tend to stand up to the roos though lol.

The noise she makes is not "quite" a crow. It is close but, she doesn't extend her neck and it starts as clucks then coos then an almost crow. My hubby was all excited about a week and a half ago when he told me one of the roos was crowing. I was out in the coop/run later in the day and the hen started up. DH could hear but, not see the chickens. He came over and asked who which roo it was. I pointed to the CC hen. He didn't believe me at first then she did it again right then.

We both are stumped. These are our first chickens. Our neighbour/landlord, said he had a couple hens sound like that when he had chickens too.

I guess time will tell if they it is a roo or a hen. (If it is a roo that just means one more bird for the freezer)

 

[JenW]

Ok I just went out & took a really good pic...but now I need to figure out how to post it to here. Everytime I click on the picture button it says to "enter image URL." It's on my phone & I'm not sure how to make it a URL? I could email it lol...
When shehe crows its a full on crow, the posture & noise are both there, sounds even louder than the roo I just had to give up. Ugh...all I want is hens that lay eggs!

 

[Kevin565]

Do you see a my computer button? It should let you add it directly that way.