Help! My hen is crowing!!

[lv9777]

I have a 3 yr old Barred rock who is top hen in my group of three. She has recently started crowing. She has always been vocal, but the crowing sounds just like a rooster. I live in the suburbs, so this is a big problem. I usually let them out to free range a bit, when I get home from work and she seems to do it when I am late and she can see me in the house. I started to respond immediately, but I don't want to train her that crowing works to get attention. She is very nice and does not act aggressive towards me or other chickens (other than necessary to retain her ranking).
Is there anything I can do to curb this behavior? Once they start does this usually continue? She is a VERY smart chicken, could I train her somehow? I have trained her to do several tricks which is easy because she is very food motivated, but I don't know how to train her NOT to do something. Any advice is welcome.

 

[Folly's place]

Is she still laying eggs? Is she growing male type feathering? Sometimes hens develop ovarian issues and look and behave more like roosters.
If you can't have a rooster, she isn't one, so she's still legal, although some neighbor could maybe complain using a noise ordinance.
It's actually kind of cute, she's really trying to run the show! There are 'no crow' collars, but can actually strangle a bird, so not such a good idea.
Mary

 

[lv9777]

She is still laying 5-6 days a week and acting like a hen otherwise. She still does the squatting dance. She has always been bossy and in charge though. She bosses that cats around too. .
I am just afraid my neighbors will complain.

 

[Battlepants]

There is a method of shaking up the pecking order by removing a lead/bully chicken from the flock for a couple days, then reintroducing them. This will force them into a newbie role and will no longer be on top of the pecking order, at least for some time.

I'm hesitant to suggest this as this is typically done for bully hens, but this MIGHT work if she truly believes herself to be a roo. Pushing her back to a hen level in the pecking order might just set her right.

 

[HippieHen44]

I have a crowing hen too! She stopped laying but hasn’t developed any other rooster traits except the crow. She will still sing the egg song with her sisters. It’s all very confusing. See her in this video

IMG_5118.MOV

• HippieHen44
• Jun 13, 2022

 

[LilTexas]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. (New to chickens, didn’t know hens do that) Pretty fascinating.