I have an androgynous chicken

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I use IQ Genetics (IQ bird testing) out of Miami, Florida. I have sent both eggshells and feathers, but blood from a toenail can also be used. Costs about $14. I have had 100% accuracy in the results. It is extremely important that the directions are followed to the letter, to avoid contaminating the samples. They have instructions on their website. They have pretty quick turnaround time, once they receive the sample in the mail. I have been very pleased with their coustomer service as well.
I, too have a younger bird, she is clearly female. 8 months old now. Laid her first egg, a gorgoeus teal green, in September and has not layed one since. I suspect she has ovarian failure. She does not exhibit any male characteristics at all. She lets the rooster mate her and once in awhile she will sit in the nest box. She is middle of the pecking order and gets along with all the other birds. She just gets to be herself and do whatever she does!

Thank you very much for that info. Plucking a feather seems easier than getting blood from a toenail, but Big Girl is so calm she might not mind either way. (But maybe she will, because its also true I've never caused her any pain.) I like the idea of sending DNA from Texas to Florida especially during winter time; less likely to get delayed in a winter storm. Going to check out iQ Genetics website next. Amazing how cheap and easy DNA testing has become. I will make sure whatever lab i use knows Big Girl's DNA might contain Both genders, & make sure they can test for that.

Re your 8 month old pullet, yes it seems that less hormones definitely leads to a more stable and even temperament, no matter the animal species. And that includes humans!

 

[ColtHandorf]

It's very interesting to see birds like this pop up. I don't know if there are studies to describe the differences but it is my understanding that the birds like Big Girl are males with nonfunctional testes while the birds that mostly appear to be female are indeed female without a functional ovary. Either way it is always interesting to see where they fall in the social interactions.

This is why I was leaning towards a "natural" capon.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

It's very interesting to see birds like this pop up. I don't know if there are studies to describe the differences but it is my understanding that the birds like Big Girl are males with nonfunctional testes while the birds that mostly appear to be female are indeed female without a functional ovary. Either way it is always interesting to see where they fall in the social interactions.

I haven't dug deep into the various possibilities, but did see one study yesterday where 3 chickens (I think they were Cochins) presented intermediate physical traits re male and female. Necropsy showed each bird had one ovary and one teste. I would be shocked if Big Girl's DNA came back solely male (darn then I guess i WILL have to give her a new name), but am certainly open to that being the case. After all this time not really caring either way, now I want to know!

This is why I was leaning towards a "natural" capon.

Certainly possible. I've never had a "chicken capon", but geldings resemble mares more than stallions in behaviors, & neutering/spaying dogs before sexual maturity changes not just their behaviors but also their physical appearance too. I still think Big Girl is both genders, but am open to all possibilities. Thanks for all the input and input from everyone!

 

[NatJ]

I use IQ Genetics (IQ bird testing)

I have also used this lab, one time, for two chickens. I sent feather samples and got back results, which were later shown to be correct (female stayed with me and eventually laid eggs, male went to a friend where he developed into an unambiguous rooster and sired some chicks.)

 

[azygous]

What a terrific thread! Big Girl is an amazing chicken. One thing I can't help but notice is her/his posture. She/he stands erect as roosters do.

If you run an imaginary plumb line from the head straight down, on a rooster it runs down through the legs. On hens, the plumb line from the head ends at a point just below the wing shoulders since hens lean forward farther than roosters.

This is a remarkable chicken. Very beautiful, as well.

 

[JedJackson]

Big girl isn't necessarily a hermaphrodite. It's possible her ovary was damaged early on, and when that happens female chickens will take on some of the physical and behavioral characteristics of male chickens. It's actually not that uncommon.

 

[Painted Calls]

Big girl isn't necessarily a hermaphrodite. It's possible her ovary was damaged early on, and when that happens female chickens will take on some of the physical and behavioral characteristics of male chickens. It's actually not that uncommon.

This is what I'm thinking happened.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I heard back from IQ Genetics re whether dna testing will show if a bird's dna contains Both genders. Their reply was "The predominant sex is the one that will show up in the results."

Well that won't fully answer the question, but it's a start. When I posted photos of Big Girl last week, everyone thought she was either fully male or mixed genders. And when comparing her to hens, she definitely looks masculine. But now the last two commenters here think she could be fully female. And one thing I didn't show in last week's photos is that although Big Girl Stands tall and straight like a rooster, she Walks like a lady. (I cheated a bit to make her appear even more hen-like by cropping out her tail feathers.)

And although she looks masculine compared to a hen, she looks feminine compared to a rooster.

But then back to a photo where Big Girl appears to be standing tall while watching out for the hens, as any good rooster would.

And I admit I think the chicken in This photo looks fully male.

Until dna results are known, guessing her true gender(s) is of course only speculation. (And if IQ Genetics is the testing lab, their results still may not provide the entire answer.) I will say, if Big Girl is determined to be biologically male, I will find that hilarious. And here's why. Because when "she" reached maturity, my first inclination was to name her Lola, inspired by the old classic rock song by The Kinks. But since I thought she was at least partly biologically female, the lyrics didn't quite fit. Because... well if you know the lyrics to the song, you know why. At this point in her life, even if Big Girl is really a he, I will continue to refer to her as "she". But a Lola kind of she.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

What a terrific thread! Big Girl is an amazing chicken. One thing I can't help but notice is her/his posture. She/he stands erect as roosters do.

If you run an imaginary plumb line from the head straight down, on a rooster it runs down through the legs. On hens, the plumb line from the head ends at a point just below the wing shoulders since hens lean forward farther than roosters.

This is a remarkable chicken. Very beautiful, as well.

Based on your comment re her posture, do you think Big Girl may be fully male? (See today's newly added photos before replying.)

 

[Poultrybonkers]

This was Gedit. She was about seven years old when she died in a pointless accident.
She never laid an egg, but once a year she would leave her tribe and go and sit on any eggs in her tribes coop for a few hours.
She was a big hen and one of the most gracefull movers I saw there.
She was also very mellow in temperament but from around one year old she remained the top hen until her death.
Everyone got on with Gedit; her own tribe and hens from the other tribes.
There was short time when she roosted on her own and Harold the main man in tribe two invited her to move in with him, his misses and their offspring. She stayed one night and never returned. Harold was always lovely to her.

I though she was lovely too and it broke my heart when she died
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This is Gedit and her half sister Myth. They had the same mother but different fathers. They both developed that Marans cross grey with reduced copper in their hackles.

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This is Gedit with her tribe. That's Myth (Gedit's half sister) front left. Donk, front right. Notch the tribes rooster. Gedit in the middle. Knock, Donk's daughter on the left. The white hen grooming by the palm stump is Dink. She was Donks grandmother. The hen in the dust bath at the back of the stump is Freya, another of Dink's daughters.
Freya did not like her mother Dink. I never worked out why. Freya made her mothers life a bit of a misery for mmany months. One evening when Freya had been behaving prticulalry badly Dink went up a tree to roost and Freya got in with Gedit. The rest had another coop.
In the morning when I opened up Freya staggered out of the coop, comb all ripped, black eye, blood and snot all over the back of her heas and a wing strain.
It seems that Gedit who was as mild as one could wish for had enough of Freya and beat the crap out of her.
Freya never bothered her mother again.
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This is Lock one of Barking Brackets daughters. She never laid an egg either and also had a similar mellow personality to Gedit. There were three roosters in her tribe, none of them bothered her and when Barking Bracket hatched her next clutch if the cockerels went to bother Lock one of the senior rooster would sort him out. All the hens seemed to like her and she did have a couple of attempts at crowing. An interesting thing was she would wait to eat with Mag the most junior rooster until the hens had eaten
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There was one other called Latch who got rehomed with her brother who apparently never laid an egg either and crowed along with her brother.

Some of those birds have bad scaly leg mites is why they prolly aint laying