Dominate hen crowing?

[jessupfamily]

This may have been posted before so I'm sorry if I'm repeating! If you don't have a rooster will the dominate hen start getting up early (like 4am early) and making a fuss that resembles crowing? This is happening to someone I know and he believes he has read that somewhere. Just curious! Thanks.
Amy J.

 

[justusnak]

Yes, this can happen if there is no roo. Not very common, but it does happen.

 

[prariechiken]

I used to have a hen that would fly out on the yard in the morning, whip any others that got too close to her and crow...she was even with a rooster...Just feeling good enough to crow, (high testosterone or something, lol)...some breeds have this occur more than others, and it shouldn't worry ya unless you buy in to the old wives tale......

 

[Jezebelle]

i had a hen that did that as well, josephene. she looked like a rooster with her body build, and would try to crow along side the guys. she was taller then all the hens. It was weired!


ooo old wives tale??? sounds interesting!!

 

[ivan3]

Yes, every morning our `Big Red' RSL crows along with the rooster (always follows by a half a beat but is getting pretty good). She never crows in the evening. She is not the dominant hen. She has spurs and only lays tiny/rubber/shell-free eggs when she lays at all.

Spotted Crow had a hermaphrodite with similar features (only laid one egg, ever).

 

[wildflower]

I just heard a clasic "cock a doodle doo" out of my all girl chicken house. It seemed to have come from our one exotic from Mcmurry. Very large black, white and grey bird ( perhaps a wyandotte?) with a growing quickly pea comb. How can we tell if this is a rooster? She/he is pesky and difficult to catch.....help! I have a photo but can't figure out how to transfer it.

 

[ivan3]

Wildflower, safest assumption is that you've got an incipient roo! Our `odd' hen didn't start this crowing business until she was over a year and a half old (though she alway had spurs).

We've no experience with just how dominant (physical/behavior changes) a hen can be as we have a roo for the flock.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

How strange...and interesting. Crowing hens, lol!!

 

[ivan3]

Angie n Maine, yes, it's pretty odd. It's not so odd as automictic parthenogenesis (turkeys/some lizards and snakes producing male offspring with no mating at all), but certainly a surprise to us.

Here's the link to an earlier thread where crowing hens were discussed (along with their eggs - what there are of them).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6218

 

[pipit]

I just logged on to ask this very thing! Just now,Hyacinth, one of my Buff Orpington hens, started crowing! She's larger than the others and has very prominent waddles and comb and rule the roost. I have no roo, although my neighbor's roo visits my girls almost everyday. My autistic son got such a kick out of her. She and 6 of her coop mates are 4 months old. I have 4 other assorted pullets of varying ages and breeds and 2 month old broad breasted bronze toms. Is this type of gender confusion very common among flocks without a rooster?