Trans hen/roo?

[LindaLouBird]

Sounds pretty crazy.
Where did you get these birds?
How old(in weeks or months) were they when you got them and how old are they now?
Did you just toss the news ones in or do some kind of integration?
What is their housing like, size of coop and run in feet by feet?
Dimension and pics would help here.

Finally, the way to determine the gender of a chicken is not by looking for sperm after a male mounts. Pics of birds showing hackle(around neck) and saddle(above tail) feathers is.

 

[LindaLouBird]

First, I am new to this, was confused with the sudden change in behavior of a chicken I believed was a pullet in September until 3 days ago. Posted an issuie in a way I tmeant to have some humor & someone reported me. Excuse my reluctance to respond to your questions,, but if people are humorless, thin skinned and unable to address an offense directly, this forum is not a fit for me. Oh, and I'm insulted that you suggested that I would "toss them in". We had a semi-formal ,catered "Meet & Greet" with music and cage dancing that went on for 2 weeks! (there she goes again with the sarcasm. Sorry/Not sorry). Have a tremendous day.

 

[Sussex19]

I don't see anything that odd or funny about asking a question.
I agree that it is very rare for a chicken to actually change gender (if in fact it happens at all) but it is quite common for a cockerel to be very slow to develop, or for a hen to try to dominate another hen; or to take over the role of a rooster when there isn't one.
Can you post some photos of it please?

 

[Chicken poppy]

This has happened before with my chicken. She would wing dance them and attempted mating once. She tidbits a lot to. She shows aggressive behavior just like a rooster would aswell (Attacking ankles, biting, etc)

 

[MysteryChicken]

Photos of the barred bird, please.

X2

 

[fluffycrow]

X2

X3

 

[Chicken poppy]

X3

X4.5

 

[ChickinProblems]

Seems my bird problems are minor now

 

[Geena]

First, I am new to this, was confused with the sudden change in behavior of a chicken I believed was a pullet in September until 3 days ago. Posted an issuie in a way I tmeant to have some humor & someone reported me. Excuse my reluctance to respond to your questions,, but if people are humorless, thin skinned and unable to address an offense directly, this forum is not a fit for me. Oh, and I'm insulted that you suggested that I would "toss them in". We had a semi-formal ,catered "Meet & Greet" with music and cage dancing that went on for 2 weeks! (there she goes again with the sarcasm. Sorry/Not sorry). Have a tremendous day.

People here aren't humorless... well, maybe some of us are
The thing is people seriously ask this very same question all the time, which results in much discussion and disagreement about whether it's possible or not. So if some people it's not directed at you so much as it is the topic.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I have a story.

My Wyandotte, Maleficient, lived for the first 2 years of her life in all female flock. She laid eggs. She was somewhere in the middle of the pecking order. Then, her friend Buffy died. I didn't even know they were friends. Sure, they were often together, but Maleficient the Wynadotte was always so mean and bossy towards the super sweet & submissive ISA Brown. And yet, they were clearly friends, becasue Maleficent became very depressed after Buffy died. (Depression being diagnosed by lack of laying, lack of pleasure in things that she used to enjoy, isolating herslef, and nothing apparent medically wrong with her).

Around this same time our accidental rooster was maturing and learning how to be a rooster. The girls who were his age and raised with him had no issues with him, but the older girls were entirely unimpressed. During this time Maleficent began crowing and fighting (kicking) with my roo. My roo and the 8 younger hens would hang out, and Maleficent and her flock mate, Wren, would hang out seperately. Eventually Wren (who used to be top of the pecking order) decided having a man around wasn't so bad, and she began splitting her time between Maleficent and the rest of the flock. Slowly she spent more and more time with the flock, and Maleficent started spending more and more time on her own. Maleficent stopped crowing, but still wasn't laying. (I suspected henopause - I've heard of hens developing rooster traits).

To add to the depression diagnosis... Wren developed a crop impaction. I brought her indoors for a few days and Maleficent immediately went on a hunger strike. Put Wren back with the flock, Maleficent started eating. Pulled Wren in again when the crop soured, and Maleficent quit eating. I had to keep Wren and Maleficent in isolation together while I treated Wren (who thank goodness made a full recovery otherwise I'm sure I'd have lost both girls).

So now everyone is back together, and doing their "normal" thing. My roo is 10 months old, and to the best of my knowlege has never mounted Maleficent. In fact, he runs her off as if she were another roo. Well, guess what... a couple weeks ago, Maleficent comes running up to me and SQUATTED. Then she ran off and laid an egg! Now she's laying almost daily (she's about to be 4 and it's January... WHAT?!), she's back to her old sassy and bossy self, demanding treats, and constantly squatting for me (but still not the roo). She is mingling with the flock more and even gets closer to Lucifer than she used to, although they are still not friends.

My story doesn't really help the OP, but I guess just goes to show that chickens are complex. I suspect that Maleficent's depression led her to question her sexuality. I don't know if that's a real thing, and I don't really care. I love having her back to her old self. (I love her squatting because she's the SOFTEST chicken in the world and it's the only time she lets me touch her). I didn't realize just how much her personality had changed over the past 5-6 months. Now, if I can just convince my roo to be a little more assertive and tell her to stop playing so hard to get, maybe I could get some sassy little chicks from her!

Here's a video of me refereeing an altercation between Lucifer (roo) and Maleficent (hen) that was caught on my trail cam, as well as a couple pics of Maleficent.