The cock that lays eggs... intersex chicken?

[Fishkeeper]

My guess would be a hormone issue of some variety. Which sex it is, I'm not sure. You can put a few drops of food coloring inside the vent of a hen to mark the eggs that said hen lays, why not try that with this one? If you get any marked eggs, that's a hen. Alternately, separate that one off into a pen and see if any eggs end up inside the pen.
Either way, keep it! If it is a roo but has a hormone issue, it may not ever act like a roo, and as such won't cause the problems that an extra roo might.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My guess would be a hormone issue of some variety. Which sex it is, I'm not sure. You can put a few drops of food coloring inside the vent of a hen to mark the eggs that said hen lays, why not try that with this one? If you get any marked eggs, that's a hen. Alternately, separate that one off into a pen and see if any eggs end up inside the pen.
Either way, keep it! If it is a roo but has a hormone issue, it may not ever act like a roo, and as such won't cause the problems that an extra roo might.

If it is a rooster it could transfer that food coloring through mating and give false results.

 

[southernbound13]

My guess would be a hormone issue of some variety. Which sex it is, I'm not sure. You can put a few drops of food coloring inside the vent of a hen to mark the eggs that said hen lays, why not try that with this one? If you get any marked eggs, that's a hen. Alternately, separate that one off into a pen and see if any eggs end up inside the pen.
Either way, keep it! If it is a roo but has a hormone issue, it may not ever act like a roo, and as such won't cause the problems that an extra roo might.

Huh! That's a super intriguing idea. We'll definitely keep it either way. One was going to be destined for the soup pot but at the moment this one doesnt give us any grief and its brother gets along well with the top roo (who is with us till death do we part) and we're about to have a large influx of pullets to repair the damage of flock massacre 2018 so there will be hens to go around.

 

[southernbound13]

Well we only got 4 eggs today but two were brown. One of the blues didn't lay soooo.... the speculation continues.

 

[Notaneggspurt]

Well we only got 4 eggs today but two were brown. One of the blues didn't lay soooo.... the speculation continues.

 

[MissChick@dee]

View attachment 1652301

Bwahahaa

 

[Barbs Girls]

 

[Better Than Rubies]

@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

 

[FarmerGirl101]

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:
View attachment 1651263

Mine crows too! Except she is 4 almost 5yr old Serama

 

[Fishkeeper]

Gynandromorphs do exist, but don't change sex. A gynandromorph is genetically female in some areas and genetically male in others.
Humans are not clownfish, and as such can't change sex. With surgery and hormones, they can alter primary and secondary sexual characteristics to more suit their gender. Gender and sex usually match up, but aren't the same thing- gender is a set of behaviors, whereas sex is about reproductive organs, and specifically gametes.
There isn't any way that a chicken could change sex, or change sexual roles. An intersex animal (i.e. one which has both male and female genitalia but isn't supposed to, may also have one male and one female gonad) can sometimes produce sperm, sometimes produce ova, but more often is infertile. I'm not sure if intersex chickens with egg tracts are known to produce eggs.

What I'm guessing here is a hormone issue, plain and simple. Sex organs are probably all in order, but there might be an overproduction or underproduction of a hormone, or something gone awry that affects processing and proper usage of a hormone.

I still recommend isolating the chicken in question for a few days. If you put it in a pen, and keep that pen where the others can see and interact, it shouldn't cause any social issues. And you'll definitely get an answer as to whether it's laying eggs!