I adopted an Australorp years ago that was a first for me. I was told she was a hen, so I called her Josephine.
Well, one day--after she'd been on our farm long enough to get comfortable--I heard crowing from the yard. I didn't have a rooster, so I had to investigate. I had to hide and observe for a while, but it was soon clear that Josie was doing it. I took a good look at her(?) and found that she did have little spurs. Huh. I renamed my chicken Joseph.
That was that . . . until the day that I found Joseph sitting in a nest box with an egg. Okay, maybe roosters set eggs, you know, sort of a Mr. Mom thing. More observation convinced me that Joseph(ine) was laying.
Josephine continued to lay eggs AND crow until we introduced a "for sure" rooster into the yard. Josie kept laying, but stopped crowing.
I put this story under "Behaviors" because I'm interested to hear why hens would be like this. Do many hens have spurs? Is it a "thing" for a dominant hen to crow in the absence of a rooster?
Well, one day--after she'd been on our farm long enough to get comfortable--I heard crowing from the yard. I didn't have a rooster, so I had to investigate. I had to hide and observe for a while, but it was soon clear that Josie was doing it. I took a good look at her(?) and found that she did have little spurs. Huh. I renamed my chicken Joseph.
That was that . . . until the day that I found Joseph sitting in a nest box with an egg. Okay, maybe roosters set eggs, you know, sort of a Mr. Mom thing. More observation convinced me that Joseph(ine) was laying.
Josephine continued to lay eggs AND crow until we introduced a "for sure" rooster into the yard. Josie kept laying, but stopped crowing.
I put this story under "Behaviors" because I'm interested to hear why hens would be like this. Do many hens have spurs? Is it a "thing" for a dominant hen to crow in the absence of a rooster?
) that indicates that this isn't as unusual as I thought. It's just not talked about a lot--kind of like that one relative that everyone has . . .
