How did my hen manage to hatch her eggs?

[EggWalrus]

It doesn't sound logical to me, but i read somewhere years ago that chickens are born with both sexes, an ovary on one side and a teste on the other side. And that is how they somehow "change" sex. In some hens, if there is no rooster around putting off male pheromones, her body will transform to male. I wish I could find that study to link to.
I still think that it wasn't as long as 6 months from the original chicken ranch. I've had a few hens penned up with no possible exposure to roosters for over 2 months and still have fertile, viable eggs that hatched. Only 2 of 10 hatched, but hatch they did. But it wasn't 6 months. Maybe OP is a little confused about the timeline.

 

[aart]

It doesn't sound logical to me, but i read somewhere years ago that chickens are born with both sexes, an ovary on one side and a teste on the other side.

Not true.
Female chickens have one ovary....and no testes.
I do believe they produce male and female hormones, humans do also, and one can over power the other depending on anatomical circumstance.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

The original post is strange to say the least. I am new to raising Chickens but I have been told you know if an egg has been fertilized by looking for the blood spot. We have 4 Hens and typically get 4 eggs a day but a coupe weeks ago I found this egg (see Picture). Since we have NO roosters, only Hens I assumed that maybe the hen had some trouble while her body made this egg. My husband joked maybe it was immaculate conception, unless the wild squirrels, Ground hogs, or opossums decided to be extra friendly with the Hens!!!

Clear example of a fertilized egg:

Clear example of an infertile egg:

You can easily see the "bullseye" in the first picture.

 

[nuthatched]

I think those thread has fully ran it's course.
It was just some 14 year old trying to be cute.

 

[EggWalrus]

Not true.
Female chickens have one ovary....and no testes.
I do believe they produce male and female hormones, humans do also, and one can over power the other depending on anatomical circumstance.

@aart I didn't say that was a fact, but that it sounded illogical.
Several years ago, that theory was mentioned here in a thread. There wasa link to some university study but I never read the whole thing. I was hoping someone might remember it and post. I'd like to read the whole thing now.

 

[HappyDuckie]

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/00/30/37/00001/PS05000.pdf
Here's one I found.

 

[Chicalina]

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/00/30/37/00001/PS05000.pdf
Here's one I found.

tl:dr

Female chickens can develop typically 'male' characteristics if their ovaries are damaged, but they remain genetically female and cannot fertilise eggs.

 

[HappyDuckie]

In general, spontaneous sex reversal has been described as the result of pathological conditions (e.g., ovarian cyst or tumor, diseased adrenal glands) which cause the left ovary to regress. Residual tissue in the right ovary proliferates in the absence of a functional left ovary. This regenerated right gonad is known as an ovotestis and may contain tissue characterisitics of the ovary, the testes, or both. There are reports of these ovotestes producing semen capable of fathering offspring. Most, however, will never lay an egg or sire offspring. This is on page 3, near the bottom.

 

[aart]

@aart I didn't say that was a fact, but that it sounded illogical.

..and I was agreeing with you.

 

[Chicalina]

There are reports of...

I see you are clinging to that bit, but it is barely even anecdotal, as it goes into no detail at all. At best it is an unsubstantiated throwaway comment with no evidence. Was this paper written by students?

It is an interesting topic however.