I think Cheep is confused about her gender. Any advice?

[chickencrazy429]

I have a friend who has four hens, and two young pullet chicks. She's not on BYC though, but anyways. She had two chickens (White Leghorn, Black Austrolorp) and they were laying for about a year and a half, maybe two years, then she got two RIR's and they started laying and so life was normal. Then for her birthday she got two EE chicks, but that's not too important. Anyways, I was at her house yesterday and her Austrolorp got on top of one of her RIR's, like the Austrolorp (Cheep) was mating Mocha (her RIR). But, the thing is we KNOW that Cheep is a hen. She's been laying for at least two years, and all of a sudden she's really cranky, but she used to be really sweet! So, is it like mating season, or drastic weather change (we just went from cold to super hot) or is Cheep starting to go broody or something? Thanks so much!! -chickencrazy429

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I'm not sure, what is odd my HEN (totally absolutely positively sure) Does that to my other chickens too.

 

[chickencrazy429]

Huh, that's weird. Maybe it's like mating season, or-- I dunno, Cheep is usually so sweet.

 

[OnceInALifeTime]

Chicken's can change gender For many years I had answered this question as "No", but recently thanks to an e-mail I learned differently. It is true. It can happen. I e-mailed my professor at University of Missouri and asked this question. This was his reply: "Yes a type of sex reversal does occur in poultry. Both a right and left ovary start to develop in the embryo but between day 7 and 9 of incubation the right gonad ceases to continue development. If in the adult, the left ovary is removed or fails to function the right gonad hypertrophies to become a testis-organ and thus "a male' instead of what was a hen." For some proof you can look at this page by Feathersite. Sex Change in Poultry

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Chicken's can change gender For many years I had answered this question as "No", but recently thanks to an e-mail I learned differently. It is true. It can happen. I e-mailed my professor at University of Missouri and asked this question. This was his reply: "Yes a type of sex reversal does occur in poultry. Both a right and left ovary start to develop in the embryo but between day 7 and 9 of incubation the right gonad ceases to continue development. If in the adult, the left ovary is removed or fails to function the right gonad hypertrophies to become a testis-organ and thus "a male' instead of what was a hen." For some proof you can look at this page by Feathersite. Sex Change in Poultry

I agree!

 

[OnceInALifeTime]

I had my leghorn hen do it to me i have 30 hens and no roosters all fully gown then all of a sudden my hen started acting more and more like a rooster even started to look like one it was crazy i've always had a roo after that

 

[chickencrazy429]

Chicken's can change gender For many years I had answered this question as "No", but recently thanks to an e-mail I learned differently. It is true. It can happen. I e-mailed my professor at University of Missouri and asked this question. This was his reply: "Yes a type of sex reversal does occur in poultry. Both a right and left ovary start to develop in the embryo but between day 7 and 9 of incubation the right gonad ceases to continue development. If in the adult, the left ovary is removed or fails to function the right gonad hypertrophies to become a testis-organ and thus "a male' instead of what was a hen." For some proof you can look at this page by Feathersite. Sex Change in Poultry

Whoa. So, does a rooster have to be present for this to happen? And, so if this has happened to her, she will be a rooster, and she could fertilize eggs now? I looked at her, and she didn't have any spurs, and she was way more aggressive than she usually is.

 

[chickenoverlord]

Hens that "change" gender will usually continue to lay, but they will show one or all of the following symptoms: mate with other hens, fight with other roosters, grow spurs, and crow. It's a testosterone overload caused by a lack of roosters in the flock, or predator attacks, or other such stress. I've had it happen to 2 hens, and they both lived long healthy lives.

 

[chickenoverlord]

And no, they cannot produce viable sperm.

 

[MCraft-NPoultry]

Wow. Didn't know that was possible!