Gynandromorph Chicken

[Redcatcher]

She started crowing this evening. While it is not unheard of for a hen to crow, given that its sexual identity is in question, I am going to say that it is very likely a true gynandromorph. I think I will go back to calling her an "it".

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I had one of those delivered with a flock of 2500 red sex-link pullets this past fall. It was split right down the middle, red on one side, buff and speckled on the other. After six weeks or so it ended up in the freezer with three roosters that were also in the flock. We had casserole last night...

I really thought I had five roosters in there until I realized I was counting the same bird twice as it ran around the barn and switched sides on me. I should have taken some pictures, as it was a very striking bird.

 

[TomG]

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2500 pullets? Wow! I've never seen that many chickens at one time. I would love to see pictures of your setup.

 

[Redcatcher]

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Nothing personal at all but it blows my mind that anyone would kill and eat one of these birds, they are so rare. You probably could have gotten some money for it from the right person who would want to keep it around for the novelty of it.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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Even though we live in a rural farming area I can't seem to even give away free roosters for the stew pot. I posted ads on Craigslist and nobody responded. We really don't have a place here for pet chickens or roosters, so we admired it for a while and then it went the way of the roosters...

 

[Redcatcher]

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Even though we live in a rural farming area I can't seem to even give away free roosters for the stew pot. I posted ads on Craigslist and nobody responded. We really don't have a place here for pet chickens or roosters, so we admired it for a while and then it went the way of the roosters...

That makes more sense. I guess it did not reach the right people. They are very rare but not quite as rare as I thought since this is the fourth one that has appeared on BYC. I read somewhere that the odds are 1 in 10,000 but many go unnoticed because both halves are the same color.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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I've read those numbers someplace too. The organic cooperative that I am a member of has 75 members with a total of over 450,000 hens. I figured if they were 1 in 10,000 we may see some more in the future.

 

[Redcatcher]

What IS rare is the gynandromoprh that appears randomly in a small backyard flock (I only have about 40 birds). These are invaluable for continuing the research on them since the parents of them are generally known. If you hear of any others showing up, please let me know.

 

[farmgirl1995]

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Ok so....these are male AND female? Kind of like a hermaphrodite or whatever the word is? Do they just happen randomly?
We're studying genetics in school right now and I am absolutely fascinated with this. Correct me because I'm probably wrong and I'm still learning. Unfortunately, high school doesn't exactly go into depth with this stuff but in the future I would love to pursue genetics as a career. A gyandromorph would occur because of a gene mutation, right? Would you mind if I printed out the picture of your bird and some of the info to show to my biology teacher?
Congrats on the egg...and the crow

 

[RareBreedFancier]

This is truly fascinating! I'd love one of these to pop up in my flock.

Such a pity you ate yours mac in abilene. I guess you know now there are people who'd have gladly taken it.

I'd have something like that shipped to me from the other end of the country just to admire it's strangeness.