Crowing hen

[nan4848]

Does anyone have a hen that crows? My Buff Orpington started crowing yesterday. I have never heard of this.

For a little background on her, she's almost 2 yrs. old and has always been extremely, annoyingly loud.

So as not to irritate the neighbors (and hubby), during the summer I had started bringing her in the house during the day in a room we have closed off from the rest of the house that serves as my hubby's woodworking shop. I do this only for about 5-6 hrs a day. She stays in a wire framed dog kennel. I would take her back out with the other 8 hens in the afternoon when I'd let them out of their run to roam before bed. After a few weeks of this routine she stopped being loud and we figured it broke the habit. So she was back out with the others.

About a week ago she started in again with the loudness, so I started my routine again. This time around she is much more upset about being by herself and doesn't quiet down as soon as she is in the kennel. The kennel by the way is a extra large wire frame so she has plenty of room, and she is still laying eggs. Yesterday she started crowing. I was flabbergasted!. WTH?!

Has anyone heard of this? And if so, what causes it?

 

[sumi]

You know the first time I read a post here about a crowing hen I thought it was a joke, but it really does happen. If you don't have a rooster in your flock one hen may start taking the rooster's place and lets just say sometimes they take it bit too seriously.

 

[nan4848]

I thought that may be the case also, but she is not the dominant hen. More middle of the pack. I did see something about sex reversal, or something like that, but not too much else.

 

[sumi]

I've heard of 2 hens that turned into roosters, but that is extremely rare!

 

[my sunwolf]

9 times out of 10 a crowing hen is actually a rooster... if yours is that 1 time, I think it can also happen with age (linked to what you were saying about sex reversal, hens can develop hormone imbalances as they age that cause things like crowing). How old is she? Got any photos?

 

[nan4848]

I don't have any recent photos of her (last one was when she was a pullet), but she is just shy of 2 yrs old. I thought she might be doing it because she's upset. I haven't heard her do it today, and hopefully she won't do it again. My husband is on his last straw with her noise and has threatened freezer camp for her.

She's a beautiful bird and one of 2 that are my only lap chickens. The other is an Australorp. She's never been broody like a lot of Orpingtons.

 

[prairieblue]

Maybe its a buff orpington thing? One of the first hens I had was a b.o. and her name was Dolly, appropriate as it turned out! That hen thought she was on stage at the Opry, or something cause she would break out into the loudest, longest squalky-crowy type song every day! And this was no egg song squalking either, that was different and not nearly as loud. I finally had to move her and her "act" to a big farm outside of town, where she continues to be LOUD I'm told.

 

[spotsplus]

This 4 year old sebright hen has been laying eggs since she was 7 months old. She also started to crow at about two years old. I'm guessing it's a hormone thing. We don't have a rooster. She is not the dominant hen but is more in the middle of the pack. She crowed for about three or four months then stopped. She hasn't crowed since. I have a video of her crowing somewhere...

 

[shannaharle]

Meet Fats. Here is her/his story. We got her when she\he was a couple of days old. She grew up with all the others. She has never let a rooster touch her. Ever. She was the very last one to even start to try to lay. Never squatted like all the other girls do. She had a prolapse one evening as I was putting them to bed noticed she was up there trying to push something out. Put that all back in and got that taken care of. A couple of days later she layed a soft shell. No yolk or anything just a wrinkly shell. She went to lay two more eggs a couple of weeks later but that was it. That was a year ago. She has since began to try and crow, and her comb and wattle have grown a lot bigger than the other buff's that we had. It doesn't flop like the other girls but stays straight up and is stiff like the roosters. We have since gotten another rooster and he won't let her drink or come outside with the other girls. He runs her back in and spurs and bites her back. Not like he does with the girls that he is actually trying to get some. I don't know if a she can turn into a he or what is wrong with her. Any Comments or advice?

 

[theoldchick]

After a hen has reached a certain age she experiences 'henopause'. When her ovary shrinks she starts producing a bit too much male hormone. As a result some older hens will crow.

Another reason may be the hen has experienced an infection of her reproductive parts causing a mishmash of hormones going haywire. In this case a younger hen may start crowing.

Rarely is a crowing hen in production, but on occasion you will find a hen who crows when there is no rooster in the flock. She will assume all male duties including mounting other hens. She may or may not continue laying eggs.

Then there is the hen who crows just because she can. They are usually the dominant hen in the flock who is loud at every thing they do.