Hen sex-change? Or something else?

[darlingdarla]

I looked out my kitchen window this morning, and there was my polish hen, crowing as loud as she could.
She has been laying eggs since she was six months old, she's ten months old now, she just laid an egg yesterday and has shown no male traits until this point.
I know that in rare instances a hen could begin showing the characteristics of a rooster, I've read that it could be due to an infection or growth in their functioning ovary resulting in a hormonal imbalance, so she is still female, though she may begin growing pointed feathers and a comb.
I cannot keep roosters in my area and whether she's genetically still a hen or not I may need to get rid of her, she's one of my friendliest hens and I really love her.

 

[sourland]

She's young for the hormonal changes that sometimes take effect, and the fact that she is still laying suggest that may not be the case. Some hens just crow. Some very infrequently and others more frequently. Hopefully she falls into the first group.

 

[Ms Clucky]

My dad had one hen that laid eggs, set and hatched and also covered hens and crowed, so. I have a couple of hens that crow but that is only because they want out to play.

 

[cleoandtheflock]

All my hens crow it’s just what they do without a rooster and it gets them what they want like free range time

 

[darlingdarla]

She's young for the hormonal changes that sometimes take effect, and the fact that she is still laying suggest that may not be the case. Some hens just crow. Some very infrequently and others more frequently. Hopefully she falls into the first group.

Well hopefully she dosent make it a habit, I already have insomnia, I don't need a chicken keeping me up too
I'll invest in some earplugs, the only real concern I have is my neighbor, he's a decent enough guy, I don't want to bother him.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Hens can't change sex. They can have hormone shifts that make them appear to have changed sex, but their chromosomes and reproductive tracts do not change. There ARE animals that change sex, most notably clownfish, but not birds.

If she crows too much, I don't see any reason why a no-crow collar wouldn't work as well on a hen as it would on a rooster. Might be she's just talkative!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Hope she stops!

 

[aart]

Hens can't change sex. They can have hormone shifts that make them appear to have changed sex, but their chromosomes and reproductive tracts do not change. There ARE animals that change sex, most notably clownfish, but not birds.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I heard that some HENS crow. Just like rooters, they crow.

 

[redhen689]

Many years ago I had a hen that started to crow when she was about 8-9 years old. It wasn't an incessant crow like a rooster. Just maybe once or twice a day. I was really confused at first, because I didn't have any roosters and couldn't figure out where that crowing sound was coming from.