What the? YOu arent a male!!!

[MonkeyZero]

Hi

Well I have 3 hens. All laying by the way. Next thing I saw outside today, one of them was mating with the other!!! Shes weird. I know its mating cause I've seen it happen. WHy are they doing this?

 

[TommyVT05]

Wow. I am not sure if animals "swing that way" but from what I know...some hens undergo a hormonal change in which they change from being a hen to a male's trait like trying to crow, dominate, sometimes mate. But this is from someone who had told me in the past.
Hope it helps

- Tommy

 

[airmom1c05]

Lord only knows! I've seen this behavior in neutered tom cats, and I've read it's not uncommon with chickens. None of my hens are the same age or size, so I doubt I will witness that behavior.

 

[clay]

My sister's female great danes are in heat, and are "at it" on the front porch all day long.

-Clay

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Do you have a rooster?

If not then sometimes the dominate hen will take on rooster like behavior and may even stop laying.

airmom-tomcat do this as a form of dominance.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Quote:
I was going to say the same thing. For a period of time, I had no rooster and the dominate hen acting like one (although she did not crow that well). As soon as the new roo was in the house, she went back to be a docile lady again.

 

[SillyChick]

Surprising indeed! Strange though.......

I saw an article on Feathersite.com, saying that in a hen, only the left ovary works. If some kind of disease or distruption destroys the working ovary, the right ovary starts to function. Oddly, the newly-working ovary produces more testosterone(male hormone) than estrogen(female hormone), thus giving the hen male features. But the hen doesn't completely turn into a male; Some may still lay, at the same time crow. Sex change on roos don't occur.

It was a very interesting article! Hope this helped. Here's the link:

http://feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKChange.html

Good luck!

 

[SpottedCrow]

It could also be a dominance thing.

 

[MonkeyZero]

I have no rooster. It probably is a dominance thing.

THanks!

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I'm not yet qualified to answer any chicken-specific questions, but if animals share traits, I'd say it's a dominance thing. I have a female, spayed beagle/lab mix who every now and then will mount whatever she can find- her bed, a pillow, my sleeping (male) English Mastiff. It's both hilarious and disturbing, but I'm told it's normal.