My hen became a rooster...sorta

[Atlantakycklingar]

So apparently I got a super oddball chicken. She is an 18-20 month old red sex-links that has laid eggs until about 2 months ago. So 100% a girl. About a month ago she started roosting up in a tree a night and crowing around 6:45 every morning. So that apparently isn't super unusual for hens to start crowing, but super annoying. I wasn't sure I could figure out which of the 5 sex links was crowing, but when I went to look, it was obvious. She's now like an intersexed rooster or something. Full rooster wattles and cockscomb, but hen's body. Crazy, right?

https://www.livescience.com/13514-sex-change-chicken-gertie-hen-bertie-cockerel.html

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

That's a hen. It's pretty common for hens/pullets to crow especially when there isn't a rooster. Sex links tend to have pretty big combs/wattles. Nothing crazy or unusual about your chicken. At all.

 

[lazy gardener]

How bout a close up pic of the bird including hackle and saddle feathers. Did you actually witness this bird plopping an egg out? Or was this bird just in the nest, and you then found an egg? Some cockerels are late maturing, and can look "pulletish" until they declare themselves by developing those secondary sexual characteristics.

 

[Atlantakycklingar]

Yeah for sure it's not a rooster exactly, but 2 months ago it didn't have wattles like that at all. They've grown like that in the past couple months.

She doesn't look anything like her sisters anymore.

 

[Atlantakycklingar]

How bout a close up pic of the bird including hackle and saddle feathers. Did you actually witness this bird plopping an egg out? Or was this bird just in the nest, and you then found an egg? Some cockerels are late maturing, and can look "pulletish" until they declare themselves by developing those secondary sexual characteristics.

I'll do my best, he/she is tough to catch. It was a sex links too so easy to sex, and wouldn't going on near 2 years be a little strange for a rooster to finally come around? I can't say for sure she's laid in front of me, because all 5 sexlinks used to be identical before this happened, but I've seen all 5 at once in the nest boxes before and I have had 5 eggs laid in a day multiple times.

 

[Atlantakycklingar]

These good?

 

[lazy gardener]

Unless you have witnessed an egg plopping out of the vent of the bird in question, or used a trap nest, you can't be positive that that bird has laid an egg. It's possible, and not uncommon for a bird to lay 2 eggs in a single day. That being said, if she's a red sex link, then you do have a hen who's ovary has ceased to function, causing her to develop male secondary sexual characteristics.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

It's a hen.

 

[Atlantakycklingar]

Well, at any rate, she's a goner. She's more or less perfected her crow now and the neighbors I'm sure are not happy. Not sure if I can rehome a crowing, non-laying hen...

 

[ticketism]

Out of interest, what did you end up doing with your trans-hen-der chicken? My 2.5yr old light Sussex has recently decided she wants to be the man of the house, though she hasn't been crowing (and I hope she doesn't start!) she's definitely stopped laying and has had quite the behavioural change as of late. She was always top hen, even when she was a chick I was so convinced she was a roo I had her DNA tested, haha. So she's definitely a she. I don't know why she'd suddenly make the switch, as nothing has changed in their circumstances for over a year, and while she's always been a very tomboy kinda gal she's consistently been a good layer, squats for me, etc, and has even gone broody a couple of times.

I've been searching the forums to see if anyone has any advice or has successfully managed to reverse the transitihen (hehe), but I'm only finding unresolved posts where basically people are just saying 'yeah, that can happen sometimes'. Yes, it can happen, but I want to make it un-happen! Haha. She's my favourite lil floofbutt so she's staying, but y'know, preferably as the sweet cheeky girl I know and love. I've been thinking of adding two more girls to the flock, and I'll need to move house soon so I'm hoping maybe the big change (new yard, different coop, new recruits in the ranks) will shake things up enough to get her back to normal... Or it could make it much worse and take it from 'it's just a phase' to 'that's Mr Floofbutt to you, thanks'