Is this spontaneous sex reversal?

[GodLovesU]

I’ve had this barred rock hen for ten years and she recently grew hackle and tail feathers that resemble a rooster’s. I don’t think she lays eggs anymore. I used to have a rooster (seen in the first picture), but he died. I received a bantam rooster about 4 months later, but he only mates with a few of the hens, as far as I can tell. Could she have done this because he isn’t “manly enough”? She will also occasionally flare up at me. If it is spontaneous sex reversal I would love to research it and write an article about it.

(When I had the standard rooster more than a year ago)

(Fall, maybe 4 months after I got the bantam rooster)

(Today)

 

[FrostRanger]

No, what's going on here is her ovary got damaged somehow which causes a hen to take on a male appearance and behavior. Unlike in mammals, in birds, male appearance and behavior is the default. Despite this she is still a hen, just one with a hormone imbalance. Not anything you can do about it either, once her one ovary is damaged that's it

 

[GodLovesU]

No, what's going on here is her ovary got damaged somehow which causes a hen to take on a male appearance and behavior. Unlike in mammals, in birds, male appearance and behavior is the default. Despite this she is still a hen, just one with a hormone imbalance. Not anything you can do about it either, once her one ovary is damaged that's it

I thought that was called spontaneous sex reversal, what is the correct term for it?

 

[FrostRanger]

I thought that was called spontaneous sex reversal, what is the correct term for it?

Evidently it is the term for it? I personally haven't heard that term before. The name is a bit misleading as it implies the bird is actually changing from being a hen to a rooster which is not what's actually going on (hence my own confusion with the name)

 

[GodLovesU]

Evidently it is the term for it? I personally haven't heard that term before. The name is a bit misleading as it implies the bird is actually changing from being a hen to a rooster which is not what's actually going on (hence my own confusion with the name)

Ok, thanks for confirming!

 

[GodLovesU]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/spontaneous-sex-reversal-in-chickens.80270/