Crowing hen?

[trailhound]

This summer I bought a chicken that was supposed to be a 5 month old
Aracauna hen. It was small, so I figured she was younger than the old
man I got her from thought (he had a lot of chickens, I figured he got
confused. She has always been a little dominate, and actually faces
off with our playful puppy (which just encourages him-he could care
less about the other chickens). Once or twice we have thought we
heard a cock-a-doodle doo, but were just waking up and weren't sure,
and never heard it any other time, even when we have been working
outside all day. This morning, I did my morning chores a little
late-still dark, but almost light- and sure enough Sophia crowed
several times.

Now, I have heard that dominant hens sometimes crow- I really thought
she was laying eggs before my whole flock stopped because they got a
respiratory thing and started molting. When hens do this, is it a
real bona-fide cock-a-doodle-do, or just an attempt. No spurs on this
chicken either. How can I tell?

Thanks!
Andrea

 

[Guitartists]

Do you have pics? This will be the easiest way for us to help answer your question

 

[trailhound]

Okay, I will work on getting pictures.

 

[swtangel321]

like you said hens can crow, but so do roosters, LOL !!! A pic would be great !!! Makes yah wonder huh ??

 

[thecochincoop]

I once had a white crested black polish that crowed. Sounded just like a rooster

I know she was a hen though, she was one of my best layers. When I took the other chickens to a show she started crowing. I have also seen a couple of my pullets attempt to crow but they grew out of it thankfully.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

If she is indeed a pullet or a hen, I know exactly what you are going through. She is dominant because the cockerel or rooster has not shown her he can be the boss yet. My pullet started crowing with a voice that was described as being like Kathleen Turner, a very smoky voice. We had a new cockerel but he had not crowed yet, with new surroundings, and she was not nice to him. Once he started to crow, and be the flock leader she stopped. It was almost embarrassing, if I had someone in the coop when Mrs. C would crow! It also helped when she layed her first egg. I think she learned her place then as well.

You should try and get a pic of her crowing. You'll laugh about it later.
ETA: She also had to be higher than all the rest of the birds.

 

[HennysMom]

oh thank goodness - I thought my girls were the only ones that "crowed"!

I have 2 that sound like Geese - CONSTANTLY - it is the most annoying thing sometimes when it is non-stop come 6:00 in the morning and all you hear is "honk honk hoooooooooonkkkkk"

First time I heard it, I actually thought we HAD geese in the yard! i wonder why they do that?

 

[Pinky]

My old red sex-link hen crowed one time when the roo was "with" another hen.I guess she was jealousI knew she was a hen becouse she was the first hen I had that hatched eggs.

 

[trailhound]

Okay, here (hopefully) are the pictures I could get of her/him. This chicken was supposedly born at the beginning of March, but I didn't get it until July and it has grown considerably since then, plus grown a bit of tail and a lot of fancy feathers.

 

[trailhound]

Trying to make that last one bigger... doesn't seem to be happening, sorry. I wanted to show that this chicken doesn't have spurs- at least I don't think.