???WHAT THE???? Sex Change???????

[wolftracks]

I have a BR that I think might be mixed with some sort of game. She lays the same color egg as a BR and other than 2 of my Games is the best little egg layer I have.

No one is laying much at all and I noticed feathers all over, so OK molting.

Anyway I put her and another hen in with one of my BCM roos. The other hens are huge and these two are a pain in the neck. That attack my games and try to run the place. At one time it was just the 2 of them in with my EE roo and both laid different color eggs and usually I had a tan egg and a white egg at the same time.

OK, so she hasn't laid in 2 weeks. Only one egg since I moved her. Her and my other pain in the neck can't take on my bigger hens and are having to stay out of the way. My way of letting them know they can't pick on others.

I check several times a day to make sure they are all OK and give treats and just hang out wayching them. This morning I was changing water and feeding and some of the hens came over to talk to me and I see the 2 bad girls on the roost. I noticed broken feathers that were not broken yesterday, so knew my roo had been a rough boy. I figured I should check them out and make sure they weren't hurt. The BR looked a little different to me, so I got closer. When I checked to make sure she wasn't hurt I found a big surprise. I have never heard of this happening, so decided to ask.

Why does my hen suddenly have SPURS!???? She did not have them 2 weeks ago, because I checked them both out from head to toe to make sure I knew what they looked like before putting them in that pen, so I'd know if the others had done anything to them. I also use Vaseline occassionally to make sure no mites appear. There were no spurs.

On my way to the dentist and hopefully there will be some answer to why this happened when I get back.

What's going on with my hen?

 

[Uzuri]

Don't get too excited about spurs. Some hens grow 'em. My boss hen has them and none of the others do (and hers didn't start crazy growth until I got rid of my rooster). They're not, alone, a sign of a sex-change (which is incredibly rare).

 

[Break an Egg]

Hens can have spurs, I've heard of mostly game hens having them, but other breeds can too.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

It is fairly common in some game breeds for the hens to have spurs.
DH has several that do. You don't want to mess with them when they have a clutch of chicks!!!

Jean

 

[kyeschicks]

Quote:
yes

 

[speckledhen]

I had two Orp hens, a black and a blue, with spurs, as well as my Speckled Sussex hen. It's not unusual at all. Trust me, she's still a hen.

 

[wolftracks]

Can finally read this.

I was jokung about the sex change BTW, but it made an interesting title. LOL

I have several Game hens and not one has even spurred like this. I had to do a triple take, cause I swear they were NOT there 2 weeks ago. Today she has these big honkin, wicked looking spurs. She always been the top of the pecking order and been mean as heck to my sweet Games, but she's looking a little whipped now, since my big girls don't play that.

Now that I think of it, I did keep checking close to make sure there wasn't going to be a problem with mixing them. Those things had to have grown over less that a week. How is that possible? I have roos with whimpier spurs! hehe

Ok, now is there a way to remove them? I don't trust her with them. She has a bit of an attitude and I don't want to have to invite her to dinner. I like her eggs.

 

[pgpoultry]

Many a true word is spoken in jest!

I have a Warren hen who first laid thin shelled eggs, then soft eggs, then 'eggs' with no membrane at all (over a 14 month period). The vet thinks she has a slow growing ovarian tumour, and probably will need to be euthanised soon , though she does not appear to be suffering as yet.

Her comb and wattles have grown a lot over this period of time, and her behaviour has become much more aggressive, presumably as the balance of her hormones changes.

I have heard that hens with ovarian tumours, particularly those with tumours that produce male hormones can do an almost full sex change externally at least, though they will never be able to fertilise eggs, of course,

sandie

 

[wolftracks]

Quote:
WOW

Amazing!