I believe I have a hermaphrodite chicken

[Chicalina]

You know, in the 90s I had a childhood cat that was a hermaphrodite. When they were given to me they were visually a female, we named her Purrl. Then later "her" testicles descended and visually they were mixed! Purrl acted like a fixed male cat, never sprayed or went into heat. Unfortunately they got distemper and had to be put down.

That's not a hermaphrodite.

He was a male cat who, depending on his age, had either normal or delayed testicular descent.

Not all male cats spray, or may do only outside the home where you don't see them do it.

Sorry to hear he got distemper.

 

[SimpleJenn]

That's not a hermaphrodite.

He was a male cat who, depending on his age, had either normal or delayed testicular descent.

Not all male cats spray, or may do only outside the home where you don't see them do it.

Sorry to hear he got distemper.

Oh interesting! He had the visible vulva slit of a female cat though! Either way they were a very sweet cat and I had a lot of fun as a kid with them.

 

[Chicalina]

Oh interesting! He had the visible vulva slit of a female cat though! Either way they were a very sweet cat and I had a lot of fun as a kid with them.

To save my internet browser history from getting even more weird, I'm going to stop myself from googling cat genitalia photos to see what you are talking about!

So I'll take your word for it.

Glad you had a lovely cat as a child to get attached to. Everyone should have one. I remember the comfort mine gave me when I was a teen trying to navigate the trials of growing up.

 

[CityFarmerRob]

You know, in the 90s I had a childhood cat that was a hermaphrodite. When they were given to me they were visually a female, we named her Purrl. Then later "her" testicles descended and visually they were mixed! Purrl acted like a fixed male cat, never sprayed or went into heat. Unfortunately they got distemper and had to be put down.

Fascinating! I've been reading and hearing about this in more than just chickens. It seems that many of them die fairly young so maybe there's some type of connection. Again, fascinating!

 

[SimpleJenn]

To save my internet browser history from getting even more weird, I'm going to stop myself from googling cat genitalia photos to see what you are talking about!

So I'll take your word for it.

Glad you had a lovely cat as a child to get attached to. Everyone should have one. I remember the comfort mine gave me when I was a teen trying to navigate the trials of growing up.

Haha I wanted to be a cat vet because of Purrl! However, I ended up being too squeamish to follow through with it.
I definitely agree, cats are a great animal and mine have always been super important in my life!

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I'm a bit late to this conversation, but will tell you all what I know.

Maybe try this.

https://iqbirdtesting.com/chickenbreeders

You'll either get conclusive results, or they'll give you a confused phone call.

I contacted this lab while my androgynous chicken was still alive, and was told that test results would only show the predominate sex; testing had no ability to show if both sexes were present. For that reason I didn't submit blood or feathers for testing.

Has there ever been a chicken documented to have both ovaries and testes? I've had hens with dominant rooster behavior, spurs and scythe tail feathers... but they laid eggs. I have an American Bresse pullet right now that my wife swears is a rooster- she even crows and mounts her pen mates- but her little bitty new-layer eggs betray her gender.

After my androgynous chicken passed away at age 4 and a 1/2 years old, I submitted her body to my state lab to have an official necropsy with microscopic exam of the gonads and reproductive tract performed. Upon visual inspection, the chicken appeared to have an ovary, oviduct, and two testicles. Upon microscopic exam, both gonads that appeared to be testicles were ovotestes.

Did they do genetic testing? Curious what it would be.

Chromosome testing would have been ideal, but i couldn't locate a lab that would do chromosome testing while "she" was alive, and also couldn't locate a lab that would do chromosome testing during the last week of her life, when i knew she was slowly dying. (Necropsy also showed she died of intestinal cancer.) Here is an article about hermaphrodite chickens that were chromosome-tested and found to have triploid chromosomes zzw.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8257394

@NatJ already posted my chicken's thread, but here it is again for anyone who is interested. If i could have found a lab to have her chromosomes tested, i fully believe she would have been triploid zzw too.

That’s unfortunate, Ive had love to have seen what the results would have been.

I would have too, but at that time the microscopic exam by my state lab was the best I could do. Maybe @CityFarmerRob can take it to the next level. On that note, @CityFarmerRob , I doubt if you will get much more from the vet exam other than a vet bill, but hope I'm wrong. As others have suggested already, it would be helpful if you would post a photo here of your bird's vent. Also, in your initial post, you included a photo of your bird taken from the right side. Could you also post a photo taken of the left side of your bird? There is a "famous" photo on the internet of a gyandromorph/"half-sider" cardinal, with the left side being female and the right side being male. There was speculation the cardinal could possibly be fertile and lay eggs, since her left side was female and so might have a functioning ovary. Here is an article with photo of that cardinal.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...d-photographed-erie-warren-county/4554937001/

 

[CityFarmerRob]

I'm a bit late to this conversation, but will tell you all what I know.

I contacted this lab while my androgynous chicken was still alive, and was told that test results would only show the predominate sex; testing had no ability to show if both sexes were present. For that reason I didn't submit blood or feathers for testing.

After my androgynous chicken passed away at age 4 and a 1/2 years old, I submitted her body to my state lab to have an official necropsy with microscopic exam of the gonads and reproductive tract performed. Upon visual inspection, the chicken appeared to have an ovary, oviduct, and two testicles. Upon microscopic exam, both gonads that appeared to be testicles were ovotestes.

Chromosome testing would have been ideal, but i couldn't locate a lab that would do chromosome testing while "she" was alive, and also couldn't locate a lab that would do chromosome testing during the last week of her life, when i knew she was slowly dying. (Necropsy also showed she died of intestinal cancer.) Here is an article about hermaphrodite chickens that were chromosome-tested and found to have triploid chromosomes zzw.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8257394

@NatJ already posted my chicken's thread, but here it is again for anyone who is interested. If i could have found a lab to have her chromosomes tested, i fully believe she would have been triploid zzw too.

I would have too, but at that time the microscopic exam by my state lab was the best I could do. Maybe @CityFarmerRob can take it to the next level. On that note, @CityFarmerRob , I doubt if you will get much more from the vet exam other than a vet bill, but hope I'm wrong. As others have suggested already, it would be helpful if you would post a photo here of your bird's vent. Also, in your initial post, you included a photo of your bird taken from the right side. Could you also post a photo taken of the left side of your bird? There is a "famous" photo on the internet of a gyandromorph/"half-sider" cardinal, with the left side being female and the right side being male. There was speculation the cardinal could possibly be fertile and lay eggs, since her left side was female and so might have a functioning ovary. Here is an article with photo of that cardinal.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...d-photographed-erie-warren-county/4554937001/

Thanks for sharing this! Yeah I had no idea what an examination of any kind would reveal. When I first started all this I had not heard about any of this information, there's a lot more out there than I ever thought. So I'm going to try to find out all I can and if I come across anything new I'll be sure to share it.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Any news on this to wrap it up?

 

[NatJ]

Any news on this to wrap it up?

I'm guessing it is a little too soon:

Well I found an exotic vet not too far from me, couldn't get a hold of them until now. So the appointment for Vic is scheduled for September 7th

So maybe later today we will hear something new?

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Last I read there was a camera being ordered? Thought maybe by now there would be some sort of video. Just curious. But today is the day of the appointment so I shall wait patiently.