I believe I have a hermaphrodite chicken

[CityFarmerRob]

No one is trying to argue with you. It's impossible for a rooster to lay an egg.

I am confused and just want to know what this "first" thing is you are referring to.

My apologies. The bird in question (Vic) was suspended of laying an egg. We all know that roosters don't lay eggs, the issue with Vic was that I believe he started out as a hen and then took on the outer characteristics of a rooster, a condition called"sex reversal" which is a real thing. And this type of event has apparently happened in the past. So I was trying to determine without killing and dissecting the bird if this was possibly one of those cases. Since then there's been a lot of speculation as well as education about this. So I apologize if I came off wrong, there are some who have read the entire story and followed it and still seem like they want an argument about"it was a rooster the whole time and we knew it" which I do find interesting since exotic vet specialist that saw Vick said he absolutely could be what I think he is. So that's the gist of it. If you're interested then please read the post and feel free to comment on anything!

 

[sdm111]

My apologies. The bird in question (Vic) was suspended of laying an egg. We all know that roosters don't lay eggs, the issue with Vic was that I believe he started out as a hen and then took on the outer characteristics of a rooster, a condition called"sex reversal" which is a real thing. And this type of event has apparently happened in the past. So I was trying to determine without killing and dissecting the bird if this was possibly one of those cases. Since then there's been a lot of speculation as well as education about this. So I apologize if I came off wrong, there are some who have read the entire story and followed it and still seem like they want an argument about"it was a rooster the whole time and we knew it" which I do find interesting since exotic vet specialist that saw Vick said he absolutely could be what I think he is. So that's the gist of it. If you're interested then please read the post and feel free to comment on anything!

Take him to a vet you do not know. They won't feel bad about hurting your feelings.

 

[The Moonshiner]

His would be the 1st rooster to ever lay an egg that wasn't a hen first(if in fact its ever proven it can)

And have it hatch.
Finally we could turn the chicken world upside down and the female chicks could be seen as an inconvenience.
Power to the roosters

 

[CityFarmerRob]

Take him to a vet you do not know. They won't feel bad about hurting your feelings.

Yeah I've never really met a medical professional who would lie or be misleading to or about a patient just to spare hurting there feelings. I would think that would be more rare of an occurrence than this. But I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

 

[CityFarmerRob]

Yeah I've never really met a medical professional who would lie or be misleading to or about a patient just to spare hurting there feelings. I would think that would be more rare of an occurrence than this. But I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

But if you know one, I am looking for a new Proctologist.

 

[NatJ]

We all know that roosters don't lay eggs, the issue with Vic was that I believe he started out as a hen and then took on the outer characteristics of a rooster, a condition called"sex reversal" which is a real thing. And this type of event has apparently happened in the past.

Except that the point about the barring proves Vic never was a hen.

The father had no barring. He has two Z sex chromosomes, and neither one of them has barring on it. So he could not give barring to Vic.

The mother had barring. So she has a Z chromosome with barring, and a W chromsome that makes her female.

The mother gave Vic the Z chromosome (with barring, and makes him a male.)
If the mother had given Vic the W chromsome, Vic would be female, but not have any barring.

So it comes down to the very simple matter of which chromosome Vic inherited from his mother. Because Vic shows barring, he must be genetically male (ZZ sex chromosomes), not female (ZW sex chromosomes.)

 

[CityFarmerRob]

Except that the point about the barring proves Vic never was a hen.

The father had no barring. He has two Z sex chromosomes, and neither one of them has barring on it. So he could not give barring to Vic.

The mother had barring. So she has a Z chromosome with barring, and a W chromsome that makes her female.

The mother gave Vic the Z chromosome (with barring, and makes him a male.)
If the mother had given Vic the W chromsome, Vic would be female, but not have any barring.

So it comes down to the very simple matter of which chromosome Vic inherited from his mother. Because Vic shows barring, he must be genetically male (ZZ sex chromosomes), not female (ZW sex chromosomes.)

Well you obviously understand the biological workings of these birds much better and deeper than I do, so kudos! At this point my curiosity has been satisfied. And whether it's just one more rooster among many or it lays a golden egg that hatches a griffin, to me it's a beautiful bird, it has been a very interesting and educational experience and as far as dissection or medical examination, maybe after he passes naturally or normally. Until then it looks like I got a lot of reading to do which means I'm going to have a lot more questions in the future. I look forward to that .

 

[007Sean]

I never had a chicken that had 'sex reversal' as you call it, it isn't really sex reversal either...they (chickens) can not do that, if born a hen, always a hen and vice-versa for a rooster! They can be born/hatch as triploids, though it's very rare. And since I've never seen one much less raised one I couldn't tell you if it would lay an egg or not, I would think that the reproductive system would be missing vital components for that to occur!

The other reason for a hen to phenotypically change is the loss of the ovaries. I have had several pheasants have this occur to them. Here's a pic of one of the latest to have lost her ovaries....but she didn't change sex, she is still a hen. She hasn't layed an egg in 4 years, she is 11 years old, she doesn't try to mate with other hens, she doesn't try to fight other cock birds, infact, she still trys to fight (between the wire) with hens in the adjacent pens, making the unmistakable sound of a mad pheasant hen. Just thought I 'toss this out'!

When she first started to get 'cock bird' plumage

Second year of ovary loss. Note: no spurs

This photo taken recently

 

[saysfaa]

Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I never had a chicken that had 'sex reversal' as you call it, it isn't really sex reversal either...they (chickens) can not do that, if born a hen, always a hen and vice-versa for a rooster! They can be born/hatch as triploids, though it's very rare. And since I've never seen one much less raised one I couldn't tell you if it would lay an egg or not, I would think that the reproductive system would be missing vital components for that to occur!

Your female-to-male pheasant change photos are awesome! I had a four year old hen that died last year, that for many reasons both physical and behavioral I always believed was born intersex. i inquired about having DNA testing done, but IQ Genetics said testing would only determine the most dominant sex and not show if both sexes were present. I then tried to locate somewhere that did chromosome testing, because as you mentioned, I believed she would test positive for triploid chromosomes. No luck there either. After she died, I settled for sending her carcass off to my my state lab for a necropsy of her reproductive system. Results showed she had an ovary, oviduct, and two gonads that the pathologist thought were testicles upon visual inspection, but were found to be ovotestis during the microscopic exam. (For those who may not know the meaning of the term, ovotestes means the gonad has combined ovarian and testicular tissue.) Here is an article with a description of birds that were found to be triploid. Their described appearance was almost exactly the same as the appearance of my intersex hen.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8257394/

Here is the link to my intersex hen's thread with pictures,if you are interested to see what she looked like. I always referred to her by femine pronouns due to her sweet, mostly hen-like behaviors, even though she was more masculine than feminine in appearance. She was completely sterile; never laid an egg, mated with hens, nor was mated by roosters.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-have-an-androgynous-chicken.1504007/