Is my Hen Turning into a Roo?

[PurpleDaze]

"Certain medical conditions—such as an ovarian cyst, tumor or diseased adrenal gland—can cause a chicken's left ovary to regress."(From the article)

Not a true sex change. I've read about this before actually.


Your hen is just showing dominance.

Yes, I didn't actually mean turn into a rooster, like could fertilize eggs but they can change their appearance to look like a rooster and how they act.

She is just at the bottom of the peaking order, and she did this completely alone, with all other chickens on another part of the farm. Just wanted to make sure she wasn't sick or anything. Also thought it was kind of funny.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Yep, this is normal. I had a hen grow spurs and crow.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yes, I didn't actually mean turn into a rooster, like could fertilize eggs but they can change their appearance to look like a rooster and how they act.

She is just at the bottom of the peaking order, and she did this completely alone, with all other chickens on another part of the farm. Just wanted to make sure she wasn't sick or anything. Also thought it was kind of funny.

The appearance change is associated with injury to the ovary, or other hormonal imbalance. It's a very rare occurrence.


Pecking order maybe approaching a change in dynamics. I think that's the reason she's showing off.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yep, this is normal. I had a hen grow spurs and crow.

I've got a spurred hen, & a few others growing in spurs.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hens crow sometimes. It does not mean they are changing sex, and sometimes it isn't even a dominance thing. I've had several Sebright hens who crowed, and one even did so rather than sing the egg song every time she laid an egg. None of them were dominant in my flock. I have a very meek Ancona who is far from a dominant hen and never even tries to challenge anyone, and she crows occasionally. She didn't start doing so until she was a few years old and it happens so infrequently that it's pretty funny when she does. I also have a Cochin bantam who has crowed when she gets excited about something, and she was bottom of the pecking order in her group until I pulled her for an unrelated issue. I've actually had quite a few crowing females over the years, enough that I've joked about being a magnet for them.

You may find that she does this for a few days and then never does it again. She may be getting ready to molt and her hormones are imbalanced from that, so she might crow every now and then for a while and then stop once her hormones are back in order. Or, she may do it every now and then for the rest of her life. I would not worry about it unless you live in an area where a crowing hen may cause you issues with a noise ordinance or laws against keeping roosters.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hens can infact turn into a rooster...

A hormone problem that changes a hen's feathers to look more masculine doesn't turn her into a rooster any more than my PCOS that gives me a beard I have to shave turns me into a man.

 

[Chookchicken]

She's at the bottom of the peaking order though?

I’d say she’s trying to change that.