I have a bourbon red hen thats not laying all the others are help!!

[medan]

she has a beard but I am sure shes a hen maybe a hermaphidite ? maybe more wild and will lay later what should i expect

 

[chickened]

Don't expect her/it to lay and just a thought here but really consider whether or not to breed her/his lines. I have had bearded hens before and they just don't work out very well or at all.

 

[ColbyNTX]

I had a blue slate bearded hen that out layed all of my turkeys even through the 100+ temps of August in the Texas summer. Some of the bearded hens are dominate and make the best mothers.

 

[Shad]

I have a Bourbon jenny with a beard, she has been laying with the others, she is a very instinctive layer and shows to be more clever than her siblings. The first egg she ever laid was fertile and is incubating now. If you don't like the beard do what we all do, shave it. The beard is surprisingly normal, I have had various experiences with bearded hens. One has a tendency to single them out and watch them and pay more attention to what they are doing than the others but when you add up all of the bearded hens together, their characters average out. I had one bearded hen that would steel and collect the wooden decoy eggs, she was a good layer she just wanted to hatch Pinocchio. Bearded hens are not a hermaphrodite but the beard always makes them easier to name.

 

[chickened]

All turkeys have the capability to grow a beard or at least they have the spot thing that it grows from. Just a guess here but it is most likely a hormone thing as it is with women and beards. Again just something I would not breed but may be OK for a pet. IMO

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

deleted

 

[chickened]

That I would not know I don't keep hens that long. I have noticed that the ones with beards are usually a little larger.

 

[medan]

Quote:
she is not yet a year old close like 11 months and days

 

[Thomasturkey]

Does she have male feathering? I tend to cull birds that show signs of sexual confusion. Hormone problems is inherited.