Hen crowing

[Supernatural]

Two days ago after letting my 2 year old hens out of their coop, I heard crowing coming from my yard. I have no roosters, and this has never happened before that I know of, so it took a few times hearing it before I was sure that it was in fact coming from my hens. I went outside to see what the heck was going on, and saw my Boss Lady hen stretch her neck, flap her wings, and cock-a-doodle-doo. A minute or two later, she went back to clucking and chattering in her normal grumpy-hen way.

What gives? Is this because she's the dominant hen? Pretty sure there are a few backyard roosters within a few blocks of my house, does that matter?

 

[vfem]

Yep... a dominate hen, top of the pecking order, will take over rooster duties... that means crowing occasionally... and mounting other hens. So watch out!

Don't worry too much, its not as often or as loud as a true rooster.

 

[Supernatural]

Well at least I know it's nothing to worry about, and she still squats when I approach, so at least she hasn't forgotten who the REAL boss is

Thank you!

 

[azygous]

Sometimes a girl has just got to crow. I have a nine-month old SS pullet Sylvia, near the bottom in rank, and she has the strong urge to crow some mornings. She doesn't quite have the technique a rooster has, but there's no doubt what she's doing. It sounds like she's getting butchered - rapid vocalizing, building in crescendo, culminating in a kind of screaming yodel.

She always seems well pleased with herself after a few good, loud crows. It's not apparent if the rest of the flock is impressed or not.

 

[tabary]

One of my 7 month old BO is the flock crow-er, she is by far not at the top of the pecking order but from anywhere within the 1.5 acres of property you can definitely tell she enjoys it

 

[myjunoli]

This is my first time raising ducks and chickens and this morning I was startled awake by what sounded like the male duck crowing... but I had never heard of that, so I ran outside. I went right passed the hens and there were my ducks, just talking away but no crowing sound. 10 seconds later I hear the noise again from the chicken coop... my silver laced wyandotte, stretching "her" neck and crowing. But not a really hearty crow, more of a muffled whining cackle. It wasn't incredibly loud but it woke me up from a good 200 feet. I can only hope that it's a blue moon occurrence and that it is just a hen making her duties known to the other hens because I can't have roosters in my neighborhood!!

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

For us, it's our GLW. She was near the bottom of the pecking order in the old flock. Then we got some new babies, and got rid of most of the older girls, and she emerged at the top of the new order. It was after that that she started crowing. No, it's not as loud as a roo, but its fairly frequent in the morning. She never crows when once she's been let out to roam, and she doesn't crow when she's not laying either (which is pretty much all winter).

My dad grew up with chickens, but he doesn't believe me. I think he thinks I've just somehow missed the fact that she's really a roo all these years!

 

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

I introduced another Sultan hen in with my Roo and other Sultan hen. Roo was interested at first and then the girls whent at it, the older hen did have some damage to some of the feathers on her foot, but later (I thought it was Roo) I heard crowing. It was my hen, crowing the same manner as a roo and pretty loud. I guess she was letteing them all know she was head hen in there.

 

[Tamara844]

Well, I've certainly learned something! One of my "hens" started crowing about a month ago. It must be one of the 18-month-olds. After reading these posts, I guess I don't need to figure out how to "sex" my chickens. I just can't get "it" to crow when I'm watching, so I don't know who it is. At least it's not as loud as a roo. Thanks!

 

[Jgrose]

I too heard a strange noise the other morning. Took two days to actually see where the noise was coming from! My splash Maran! After her Brahma sister who was in charge molted last fall, she became Boss! Now this!! No eggs for 3 days either! I hope that she doesn’t feel too much like a rooster and quit laying!