I believe I have a hermaphrodite chicken

[JacinLarkwell]

she also has spurs,

Hens with spurs are not uncommon. I have a good amount in my flock

 

[CityFarmerRob]

My avian vet said there are intersex chickens who can show characteristics of both male and female. The vet said this in relation to my isa brown Whitetail who is uncharacteristically tall, lean and fierce — but she lays eggs. I also have a silver leghorn Lorraine who is in love with my black australorp Lillith. Lorraine lays eggs too —but she also has spurs, does the special dance for Lillith, side steps, hangs around the shed when Lillith is brooding/laying and is always very doting and patient towards the chicks.

I can’t really comment at all beyond what the vet said to me and my observations of my own flock but I do think chickens transcend the binary in all sorts of ways!

Well duh.... It's obvious he's hiding eggs in his prison wallet.

Ouch

 

[saysfaa]

I did a little digging into the biology of hen feathering (like the sebrights) in case it helped with this - if an egg was laid by this bird. Roosters with the genes for the hen feathering have rooster feathering when they don't have enough testosterone.

Hens, though, have rooster feathering when they don't have enough estrogen.

It would seem likely they wouldn't lay eggs if they had that little estrogen though. The sources I found so far didn't talk about that enough.

 

[CityFarmerRob]

Hens with spurs are not uncommon. I have a good amount in my flock

I guess all this goes to show you can't judge a bird by its feathers.

 

[Coops Dad]

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.

 

[CityFarmerRob]

I did a little digging into the biology of hen feathering (like the sebrights) in case it helped with this - if an egg was laid by this bird. Roosters with the genes for the hen feathering have rooster feathering when they don't have enough testosterone.

Hens, though, have rooster feathering when they don't have enough estrogen.

It would seem likely they wouldn't lay eggs if they had that little estrogen though. The sources I found so far didn't talk about that enough.

Well I guess what started as a simple inquiry has turned into a bigger subject. It seems quite a few people have birds that are not quite this or that. But it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of hard science behind exactly why this happens. And I've been able to get pieces of information from here and there so obviously there's something going on here. And even if this turns out to be just a rooster and a guy who made a silly mistake, it seems opened up a new discussion about the variations in these birds and what causes it. And with all of this discussion there are still people out there who think this is total nonsense, again because not a whole lot has been done on this particular subject I suppose. Either way it's interesting. Can't wait to get to the vet and see what he can come up with. And even if he comes up with nothing, well that's one more avenue I went down and I have to say on the whole, it's been a pretty fun ride!

 

[CityFarmerRob]

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.

And that seems to be one of the issues, a lack of professional documentation. So I hope this little trip to the vet will provide some. And I am going to try to document as much of the examination and vet visit as possible and post it.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Has there ever been a chicken documented to have both ovaries and testes

You've just reminded me - don't chickens have the "undifferentiated gonad" thing? I thought in an adult hen there is only one active ovary and the other remains in some undeveloped state. So if the active ovary has problems and shuts down for some reason, the other undifferentiated one may develop some (not necessarily all the way) and cause testosterone, leading to development of male feathering in a hen, and the thing the other gonad turns into is called an avo-testis. From the few things I just looked up I gather it results in rooster feathers but not a fully functioning rooster from a reproductive standpoint. Has the chicken here ever been certain to have produced fertile eggs with a hen in the past? I didn't see an answer either way but may have missed it. If it hasn't...

 

[CityFarmerRob]

You've just reminded me - don't chickens have the "undifferentiated gonad" thing? I thought in an adult hen there is only one active ovary and the other remains in some undeveloped state. So if the active ovary has problems and shuts down for some reason, the other undifferentiated one may develop some (not necessarily all the way) and cause testosterone, leading to development of male feathering in a hen, and the thing the other gonad turns into is called an avo-testis. From the few things I just looked up I gather it results in rooster feathers but not a fully functioning rooster from a reproductive standpoint. Has the chicken here ever been certain to have produced fertile eggs with a hen in the past? I didn't see an answer either way but may have missed it. If it hasn't...

Well from what I've been able to dig up and get from other people, it seems that some chickens are born with both male and female parts. Now how much of this part in that part seems to vary. But it does seem that in most of these cases either the male or the female part is active or neither part is really active. And from what I believe I'm understanding to have a bird that had a functioning female part to where it could lay an egg as well as strong enough male hormones to to take on the physical characteristics and behavior of a rooster is more rare if not undocumented. Now I believe one of the members had sent me a link to a study of quail where this had happened and the egg was fertilized by the bird that laid it, but from what I'm understanding it's only ever been observed in quail. So maybe this is something the community and even the medical community will take a closer look at so there can be more comprehensive information out there about this condition. And at this point it's not even really about my bird because apparently there's quite a few birds out there that are for a lack of a better word"riding the line". This just keeps getting more and more interesting!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I did a little digging into the biology of hen feathering (like the sebrights) in case it helped with this - if an egg was laid by this bird. Roosters with the genes for the hen feathering have rooster feathering when they don't have enough testosterone.

Hens, though, have rooster feathering when they don't have enough estrogen.

It would seem likely they wouldn't lay eggs if they had that little estrogen though. The sources I found so far didn't talk about that enough.

I've seen it theorized on here that one ovary produces eggs and the other produces hormones.

I guess all this goes to show you can't judge a bird by its feathers.

These hens still have female coloring though. They're just more prepared for a zombie apocalypse than their lesser armed sisters