Female Barred Rock sex change?

[3chickenfriends]

Hey there,

This may be more of a medical problem but I don’t notice any real signs of sickness; reccently my nearly 4 year old Barred Rock hen has been crowing like a rooster. Approximately 3 days ago this commenced and she was laying an egg these past 3 days except for today. She’s extremely healthy for her comb and wattles are bright red. She’s very energetic despite the hesitation to eat her layer feed, only in the morning she does. I’ve researched sex changes in hens but it’s so odd, is she actually transitioning? Is crowing just a temporary thing? I read it could be from an infection in one of her ovaries is there a way to help it? I’ve also read of “henopause” but she was literally laying 3 days ago! Just want her to be okay.

Thanks,
3chickenfriends

 

[bobbi-j]

I haven't had one do that, but I have also read that infection in the ovaries can cause this. She is not changing her sex. She will always be a hen, but may have male characteristics. I can't tell you if she will lay eggs again, but I wouldn't worry about her if she's acting healthy.

 

[Rob Tof]

I hear some hens are just more vocal at some ages.

 

[DaviJones]

Hey there,

This may be more of a medical problem but I don’t notice any real signs of sickness; reccently my nearly 4 year old Barred Rock hen has been crowing like a rooster. Approximately 3 days ago this commenced and she was laying an egg these past 3 days except for today. She’s extremely healthy for her comb and wattles are bright red. She’s very energetic despite the hesitation to eat her layer feed, only in the morning she does. I’ve researched sex changes in hens but it’s so odd, is she actually transitioning? Is crowing just a temporary thing? I read it could be from an infection in one of her ovaries is there a way to help it? I’ve also read of “henopause” but she was literally laying 3 days ago! Just want her to be okay.

Thanks,
3chickenfriends

Do you have a rooster around, I've heard that the absence of one can cause it. Might be a myth though. I don't know a lot on this, just want to stick around in case the rooster thing is true, because I have an all ladies flock.
X2 on bobbi

 

[m1chelle1]

Hey there,

This may be more of a medical problem but I don’t notice any real signs of sickness; reccently my nearly 4 year old Barred Rock hen has been crowing like a rooster. Approximately 3 days ago this commenced and she was laying an egg these past 3 days except for today. She’s extremely healthy for her comb and wattles are bright red. She’s very energetic despite the hesitation to eat her layer feed, only in the morning she does. I’ve researched sex changes in hens but it’s so odd, is she actually transitioning? Is crowing just a temporary thing? I read it could be from an infection in one of her ovaries is there a way to help it? I’ve also read of “henopause” but she was literally laying 3 days ago! Just want her to be okay.

Thanks,
3chickenfriends

This is random, but it does relate. I just recently watched a documentary on chickens on youtube to see if I could learn anything new, and I did learn about how if an ovary "dies" due to infection, injury, etc, there can be a so called sex change that happens due to the large amount of testosterone in the chicken. But its more they grow a larger wattle and some rooster like characteristics like crowing, but they cant ever reproduce. Its supposed to be super rare. Let me see if I can find the documentary, its a good one. BBC.....hold one.

 

[m1chelle1]

OK found it!! So if you scroll to 41 minutes in the video, they start discussing it. This is a really interesting watch, and they show how intelligent chickens are, and a lot of cool (and humane!) experiments with the chickens. I highly recommend watching if you have a spare 50 minutes sometimes.

cheers!
~M

 

[Rob Tof]

Watched the docO Movie learned a few things.

 

[Clucking_Caramel]

Well if your hen does turn out to be transitioning to a rooster he should be fine. No major injuries or complications from what I have heard. He probably will fight your other roosters if you have any.

 

[barn206]

A woman once told me that this sometimes happens if a rooster is not present. One of the hens may begin to crow. She said as soon as she added a rooster the hen stopped crowing. The lady that I spoke with has had chickens all her life. This was totally new to me but I found it interesting. Im assuming that the hen took on the responsibility for protecting the flock.

 

[BreanneRN]

At one time, I had Sultan's, a very sweet, kind of pet chicken breed, full size, looked like Silkies except they had feathers and red comb and wattles. I kept them by themselves, as they tended to not do well with other breeds (picked on, sick, etc). I had one that was a hen when with a rooster and layed eggs, but started to crow when put in with a hen. I never hatched any of her eggs, as I had more chickens than I needed at the time, and Sultans seemed to require extra care, didn't want anymore really, though they were sweet and extremely personable. Stuff would happen to them, always treating them with fungicides and antibiotics. If they died, it was just too sad, and the attachment to great.