Hen Crowing

[AlienChick]

I remember someone posted about their hen crowing. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, "Ehh, you have a rooster!"
Well . . . I'm eating crow (or chicken), cuz now one of my hens is crowing.

She is a little d'Uccle hen who lays eggs about every other day. She was broody not too long ago and only one of her chicks lived and she raised it for a couple of months. She lived together in the same pen with her chick and one other d'Uccle hen.

Last week a couple of my dogs got out of the gate one morning and apparently ate her chick and the other d'Uccle hen.

After putting the dogs away I was in the barn assessing the damage and saw my little white d'Uccle hen creeping out from behind a pile of wood at the back of the barn. She managed to hide from the dogs. Now she's all alone and she started crowing along with the other roosters in the barn. She sounds like a juvenile rooster when he first begins to crow.

I'm wondering if the dog event was so traumatic for her that she now wants to be a tough rooster.

 

[Judy]

I'll bet you're right.

One of my hens crowed for a few months after the flock lost its roo. She also climbed on the backs of the other hens as if trying to mate them, for a while. It wasn't a real roo-type crow, more a poor imitation, but I don't know what else you'd call it but a crow.

 

[Nicole01]

If a hen loses an ovary for any reason, she can turn herself into a male. The hens will grow the secondary sex characteristics as well.

However, there are some hens that crow and lay eggs. I'm not sure how common this is. Maybe she's crowing because she doesn't want to be bred? If so, smart move on her part.