The cock that lays eggs... intersex chicken?

[southernbound13]

Ok so this is going to sound nuts and if I'm incredibly stupid please forgive me. So last summer our hen went broody and sat on 4 eggs, two of her own and two of our RIR. To our disappointment every single one appeared to be a cock. They all developed red, large combs early and before long they all had pointy saddle feathers and waddles and very typical cock features all the way around. We lost two to the neighbors dog last month, leaving us with one from the orpington that raised them and one of the RIR crosses. The RIR cross always seemed a little unusual, he didnt seem to truly crow, his long tail feathers hadnt come in and his spurs weren't coming in as fast as his brothers. Then last night the thing sat on the nest and this morning we had 5 eggs out of what we thought were only 4 hens. WHAT THE HECK. Now upon looking closer we noticed it does have a rather hen like tail but literally every other thing about this bird is rooster. What is up with this?!? (Pictured with brother)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Roosters will go in the nestboxes to hide, sleep or goof around. I would be inclined to believe you missed an egg from the day before rather than that bird laid an egg, but you never know with chickens. I do believe that's a rooster.

 

[1goose2ducks]

Yes my rooster loves sitting on the eggs.

 

[WindingRoad]

Ok so this is going to sound nuts and if I'm incredibly stupid please forgive me. So last summer our hen went broody and sat on 4 eggs, two of her own and two of our RIR. To our disappointment every single one appeared to be a cock. They all developed red, large combs early and before long they all had pointy saddle feathers and waddles and very typical cock features all the way around. We lost two to the neighbors dog last month, leaving us with one from the orpington that raised them and one of the RIR crosses. The RIR cross always seemed a little unusual, he didnt seem to truly crow, his long tail feathers hadnt come in and his spurs weren't coming in as fast as his brothers. Then last night the thing sat on the nest and this morning we had 5 eggs out of what we thought were only 4 hens. WHAT THE HECK. Now upon looking closer we noticed it does have a rather hen like tail but literally every other thing about this bird is rooster. What is up with this?!? (Pictured with brother)View attachment 1651218
View attachment 1651217
View attachment 1651213
View attachment 1651212
View attachment 1651211

Got a place you can put him alone for a few days. That should tell the rest of the story.

 

[southernbound13]

@southernbound13, Cold Hard Fact: if it lays an egg, it's a hen. It truly does appear to be a rooster, though, and if so, then it did not lay the egg. And...chickens--just like people can't, whether they pretend or try to or not--cannot change sex. Gyandromorphs? That's nonsense. Not all or most hens lay the exact same shade of egg...that egg had to have been one of your hens. All I know is, that red chicken is not a unisex...because there's no such thing as that. It's either a male, or a female.
~Ruby

I appreciate the reply but with all due respect, let's get something straight and clear up a lot of misconceptions and speculation. No one is or has at any point talked about a chicken changing its sex. Not once. An above poster was the one that brought up a "transgender" chicken. I have a degree in biology specializing in genetics and have had the privilege of doing an internship at one of the worlds top genetics labs. I understand chicken sex organs. Gynadromorphs are relatively common in avians and do not change sex, they literally exhibit qualities of both sexes due to distribution of Male and female cells throughout their body. Nothing to do with changing sex. Several research studies on all kinds of species have shown the, frankly rather common, existence of intersex individuals. Gynadromorphs, hermaphrodites, chimeras, whatever you would like to call it, it's a thing. I am aware that if it is indeed laying eggs, it's a hen. The joke is that it is to the naked eye, as everyone had pointed out, obviously a rooster. So it will be strange and amusing if it ends up being a hen (which as has also been pointed out, could very well be just a hormonal issue with a normal hen which would still be amusing).

Secondly, yes I am aware that the most obvious solution would be that a hen is laying the eggs and that not all eggs look the same, but again, it comes down to genes. Blue eggs are genetic. A blue egger does not lay brown eggs. They just dont. A white egger also does not lay brown eggs. They dont possess the ability. I have one hen that is not a genetic blue or white egger so every brown egg is either from her or somewhere else, be it a prank or otherwise.

 

[SueT]

I have a hen that crows. I just discovered this. She is a little Sebright, going on 2 yrs old and a very good layer when not broody. Sat. night temps were to be single digits and she had spent the day shivering on the roost, so I brought her into the basement for the night. In the morning, our rooster out in the coop began crowing and the Sebright hen crowed back! Over and over she crowed. I put her back out when it got sunny.
this is a pic of her in the basement--little Moonshine:

 

[1goose2ducks]

Sometimes my hens lay two eggs one day and none the next day so that could be it and that chicken definitely is a rooster. Hope this helped

 

[Amer]

Theres a few articles on research and its estimated to be about 1 in 10,000 which let's be real is 3 every large hatchery hatch so not terribly rare but the jury still seems to be out on if they can lay eggs.... I think they call them gynadromorphs

Gyandromorphs show female and male traits. In this case, he would likely also have different colors distributed on his body. Just a very feminine rooster.

 

[MissChick@dee]

A damaged or non functioning left ovary can cause a Female Hen to exhibit male qualities due to not having estrogen to counter the natural testosterone that they have. Crowing...spurs plumage etc. they cannot produce Sperm.

 

[southernbound13]

Chickens cannot change their sex. And if you truly had a hen that laid 2 eggs in one day there were probably circumstances that lead you to believe she laid two.

No one is talking about chickens changing their sex. Birds that posess an assortment of Male and female presenting cells are found not infrequently in nature and, as someone said above there are conditions that can cause hens that posess male phenotypes. The question is if this bird is one of the above.