Hermaphrodite chickens?

[chickloveschick]

I am new to raising chickens...I had 4 Buff Orpington chick's in the beginning, one died after a few days. It started breathing kinda funny. Then, I got to experience Merrick's in a poulet. That was pretty horrific. Now, I have 2 hens left. They seem to be healthy and one lays daily, the other every other day. However, I started noticing that Lolly has a comb like a rooster and long waddles like a rooster. She also has a narrower body (lays every other day). I did some research and found out that she may be a gynomorph.

Anyone out there have anything to add about this possible condition? Big girl has a small comb and smaller waddles. Lolly has more pronounced ears as well. My neighbor stated that she has the same thing happening with her 2 hens.

 

[floridahenhouse]

Even though this thread is four years old, I hope there are still some people looking at it.

We have a flock of both regular size birds and also bantams - mostly for the eggs but we have raised a few food chickens, too.
Our egg customers asked about "chocolate eggs" so we purchased two Marans chicks that were supposed to be layers. They are now ten weeks old and one of them has developed a comb and wattles but still has all of the other physical characteristics of a hen. I first suspected something was amiss when "she" started making a noise that sounded like she was trying to crow. Initially, that sounded more like a goose honking but it has now become more recognizable as a crow. She does not have spurs but has started trying to mount the other young hens in our juvenile development enclosure.

I am concerned that she may not survive in our run and coop structure because we have two rather large and aggressive roosters. Any suggestions? I am not looking to build another enclosure so my options are to place her with the rest and hope for the best or sacrifice her now.

 

[keesmom]

They are now ten weeks old and one of them has developed a comb and wattles but still has all of the other physical characteristics of a hen. I first suspected something was amiss when "she" started making a noise that sounded like she was trying to crow. Initially, that sounded more like a goose honking but it has now become more recognizable as a crow. She does not have spurs but has started trying to mount the other young hens in our juvenile development enclosure.

I am concerned that she may not survive in our run and coop structure because we have two rather large and aggressive roosters. Any suggestions? I am not looking to build another enclosure so my options are to place her with the rest and hope for the best or sacrifice her now.

"She" is undoubtedly a he. Any bird with a prominent red comb, along with crowing and mating attempts, at just 10 weeks of age IS a cockerel. At that age saddle feathers may just be starting to become visible, and spurs don't really start to grow until one year of age. If you do npot need another male you can try to rehome him, or just send him to the freezer.

 

[NateReinhold]

A hen that has adrenal insufficiency, their ovary is damaged or develops a cyst or tumor , or a few other medical conditions can and will "change sex". Hens only have 1 working gonad on their left side and while young it develops as an ovary but the right gonad stays dormant and undeveloped. If something happens to the left ovary, like cysts, tumors and even mechanical damage or is regressed from adrenal insufficiency, the right gonad may develops into an ovotestis and start releasing androgens that cause all of the male characteristics to become expressed. They will develop cockcombs, saddle feathers, earlobes and even start to crow, although they will never be able to sire offspring because they are still genetically female, they will sure look and act the part. There sure are gyanomorphs amongst the population but I think the sex reversal phenomenon is quite often mistaken as being such and not are not true hemaphrodites.

 

[carlsaSC]

I have a mutt hen that I hatched out. She is fully black with a bright red pea comb. I think she is about 3 years old. She used to lay green eggs like an Ameraucana--there is some in her lineage. Now, she does not lay and has a crow that sounds like a young roo just learning. She has fully upright tail feathers with no sickle appearance. The other hens don't let her near treats. Had never heard the term "gyanomorphs" before, but suspected she may be hermaphroditic.

 

[OlandskMama]

I have just come across my 2nd (and possibly 3rd) Hermaphrodite chicken. I';m beginning to worry about what's in the water

Last summer I hatched 2 adorable Bantam Salmon Fav hens from a reputable Faverolle breeder. At about the age of 2 months, one of the hens began to 'color up' until finally she had developed all of the outter male characteristics including hackles and saddle feathers. At the age of 9 months, she died without every having laid an egg. Her sister also died a short time later also without having laid. They did come into POL just as winter came on hard here in SW VA so I attributed the sisters lack of laying to that.

Now, I have 2 Bantam BLRW birds who I was completely convinced were hens until about a month ago ( age 4 months), they began to develop saddle feathers. One of them also developed a small comb and wattles. The other has no comb or wattles. There are also 2 distinct roos that hatched at the same time (same breeder) who have full roo characteristics and 2 hens who are also 'normal'. The 2 that show signs of gender confusion dont seem to have good body form or good feather color. I will be culling them shortly for those reasons but am intrigued by the fact that we have ended up with 3 birds in a 12 month period who show no typical signs of gender.

Would love to hear from anyone else who has run into this or has some information.

Thank you!

This explains a lot to me about my androgenous chicken. She looks like two her sisters but has a slightly longer tail. He/She did not start laying when sisters did and then I noticed she had hackle feathers on one side of her neck. I was getting used to calling her 'he' and then I started getting a third egg every couple of days! They are huge for my Olandsk Dwarf breed and always double yolkers! I usually name them. This one will be Pat.

 

[Rose Quartz]

in the past few years I've come across birds with both parts but it was only ever figured out after they had died.

The first one looked like a hen but was outcast from the flock and never laid an egg. After that I think I've seen close to 10. I never thought to look up what would cause it, I'm not surprised that incu temps would mess with it though.

 

[xobellavega]

Even though this thread is four years old, I hope there are still some people looking at it.

We have a flock of both regular size birds and also bantams - mostly for the eggs but we have raised a few food chickens, too.
Our egg customers asked about "chocolate eggs" so we purchased two Marans chicks that were supposed to be layers. They are now ten weeks old and one of them has developed a comb and wattles but still has all of the other physical characteristics of a hen. I first suspected something was amiss when "she" started making a noise that sounded like she was trying to crow. Initially, that sounded more like a goose honking but it has now become more recognizable as a crow. She does not have spurs but has started trying to mount the other young hens in our juvenile development enclosure.

I am concerned that she may not survive in our run and coop structure because we have two rather large and aggressive roosters. Any suggestions? I am not looking to build another enclosure so my options are to place her with the rest and hope for the best or sacrifice her now.

SACRIFICE ?!!!!! GOD THATS HORRIBLE ! sell her too me

 

[CityFarmerRob]

I have just come across my 2nd (and possibly 3rd) Hermaphrodite chicken. I';m beginning to worry about what's in the water

Last summer I hatched 2 adorable Bantam Salmon Fav hens from a reputable Faverolle breeder. At about the age of 2 months, one of the hens began to 'color up' until finally she had developed all of the outter male characteristics including hackles and saddle feathers. At the age of 9 months, she died without every having laid an egg. Her sister also died a short time later also without having laid. They did come into POL just as winter came on hard here in SW VA so I attributed the sisters lack of laying to that.

Now, I have 2 Bantam BLRW birds who I was completely convinced were hens until about a month ago ( age 4 months), they began to develop saddle feathers. One of them also developed a small comb and wattles. The other has no comb or wattles. There are also 2 distinct roos that hatched at the same time (same breeder) who have full roo characteristics and 2 hens who are also 'normal'. The 2 that show signs of gender confusion dont seem to have good body form or good feather color. I will be culling them shortly for those reasons but am intrigued by the fact that we have ended up with 3 birds in a 12 month period who show no typical signs of gender.

Would love to hear from anyone else who has run into this or has some information.

Thank you!

Well I had a chicken that I gave to somebody that I was pretty sure was a hen and I s**** at about week five then about three and a half weeks ago she wanted to return it to me because she said it turned out to be a rooster and was hassling the hens so I took it and isolated it so it wouldn't get his butt kicked by the rest of the roosters and three weeks later I found an egg in it's cage. And this just happened I posted something about it because I thought it was so odd. But now that I've started to look I have discovered more and more cases of similar birds. I've got one that shows all the outward characteristics of a male and crows every morning it just seems that he laid an egg and I guess I can't really call him my key so let's not get into that. Let's just call it weird and keep on going! But I have no intentions of culling this bird!

 

[Stravager]

SACRIFICE ?!!!!! GOD THATS HORRIBLE ! sell her too me

People cull chickens all the time for various reasons - sometimes by killing and sometimes by selling/giving away. It's life. It might even be worse for the chicken to be packed up and shipped somewhere long distance than it would for it to be killed.