HEN CROWING?! Does she think she's a rooster or what?!

[lalainthepines]

Our new hen was impatient to be let out this afternoon. We'd just let her out for a wander around the yard and she wanted to be let out again, but we thought we'd wait another hour or so. At first she was just making her typical 'let me out' noises (a sort of rrawwwk noise) and then suddenly she was crowing like a rooster. I ran out to see if there was something wrong with her but she was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary and the crowing stopped as soon as she heard me coming.

We only have the one hen (she's been poorly, so we're waiting for her to be healthy again before adding a friend) and the run's a working in progress. So far we've just been letting her out of her coop a couple times a day to wander and peck at the yard before leading her back into the coop.
This is the first time she's made this noise, though.
Is this normal? Is there a certain meaning to a hen crowing??

 

[lalainthepines]

one of my hens did the same thing yesterday. not a real strong crow like my rooster, but she flapped her wings and crowed several times. she is kind of a loner, preferring to go off by herself rather than stick with the flock. I was wondering if she could be both male and female. Is there such a thing in the chicken world? she is a year old and does lay eggs.

 

[bobbi-j]

one of my hens did the same thing yesterday. not a real strong crow like my rooster, but she flapped her wings and crowed several times. she is kind of a loner, preferring to go off by herself rather than stick with the flock. I was wondering if she could be both male and female. Is there such a thing in the chicken world? she is a year old and does lay eggs.

No. They are male or female. She could be female with male tendencies. I've never had a crowing hen, but have read that the male tendencies can come from an injured or malfunctioning ovary.