Hens are Roosters??

[tigerbarbd]

I hope this is the correct place to post this! We had 24 "Hens" that we raised from chicks we ordered from Murray McMurray 16 months ago. We have been involved with "chickens" for only two years. Well, we decided to downsize, so we just sold 6 White Stars and 6 Black Stars, well the gentleman that baught them called back one hour after the sale and said that two of the 12 were "ROOSTERS", because they had "spurs"!! This guy has many more years experience than I do , but we had them for 16 months and have not heard one "crow", and never saw anyone being "mounted"........It doesn't hurt the "deal", but is this possible??? Thanks........Don

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Occassionally there will be a hen that is actually both. They are rare, and you won't notice any breeding between hens, and yes they are able to fertilize their own eggs. However the chicks that hatch from said hens will have defects and all the chicks will be sterile. This may be the case for these two "hen-roos".

 

[TigerLilly]

Wow--that's very interesting (& strange)! I learn something new on here everyday...

 

[Teach97]

spurs on hens is nothing wierd...many of your game birds will have this characteristic..the hens function totally normally and their offspring are normal

 

[Pinky]

Not all chickens with spurs are roosters. Many game breed hens grow spurs as well as the roosters. Most of my game hens do have spurs.

 

[smarsh]

yeah, but spurs on a 16 month old sounds rooish. I suspect even game hens don't have much by then. I had a game hen crow once and she had a 3-4 week old brood at the time.

 

[gmendoza]

This is the first time I have ever heard this.

A hen can have spurs <--- true ( my black australorp had one spur)

A hen lays sterile eggs <--- true because it needs a roo to make fertile eggs.

A hen can crow liken a rooster <---- true ( if there isnt a dominating roo or no roo present)

A hen with spurs is sterile <--- false (our black australorp mated with our roo and had fertile eggs)

All my years haing a greatgrandfather who had a 500+ acre working ranch in Arizona and the life I lead raising chickens and the people around me who raise poultry never even heard of an asexual chicken.

Show me...no wait..Ill show you a pic of a hen-roo below:

Show me proof.I would like to see it firsthand. Not saying you are wrong,but wheres the beef???

 

[Wynette]

A hen can crow liken a rooster <---- true ( if there isnt a dominating roo or no roo present)

A hen can crow SIMILARLY to a rooster, even if you have a rooster. I've had two hens in the past "crow." One, while sitting right next to the roo on the perch at night!

Many breed of female chickens grow spurs. I've had them in my Jersey Giants and Marans...thought they don't grow as long as my roosters' spurs do.​

 

[Pinky]

Oops,this was intended for the post with the hen-rooster above.

 

[gmendoza]

Quote:
A hen can crow SIMILARLY to a rooster, even if you have a rooster. I've had two hens in the past "crow." One, while sitting right next to the roo on the perch at night!

Many breed of female chickens grow spurs. I've had them in my Jersey Giants and Marans...thought they don't grow as long as my roosters' spurs do.

Maybe the roo wasnt dominating enough.

We have this one hen still who was crowing even next to our three roosters because there wasnt a dominating roo in the lot. We kept two and still have them.We ate the other and the hen doesnt crow anymore because speckles became the dominate male. Bumpus is a bantam roo/comedy relief.