why is my hen crowing when i have a rooster?

[kumokumo]

so i have a pretty small flock. mentioned in my older posts, i have two lav orp hens, a salmon fav hen, a teeny tiny oeg hen and a oeg rooster. when i originally got my flock that i raised as babies, i had two lav orp chicks and two salmon favs (unfortunately, one of my salmon favs have passed away last year), and i got them out of the straight run bucket. as they grew up, i thought i had two roos, one of each breed. i thought my current salmon fav was a rooster when she was a baby; she was always aggressive and flighty, and now she’s at the top of the pecking order after the oldest hen passed. the other assumed rooster is named jiafei. she has a verryyy croaky voice, which made me think she was a rooster as a chick. but she lays eggs, and she definitely looks like a hen. she’s very vocal and likes to scream her head off. i thought she was sick originally since her voice was so croaky, but she’s about to turn two so i think that’s just how she sounds. but today she was screaming more than usual, so i came outside to check on her, and i found her crowing. unmistakable crowing—her head was cocked, she hit those notes and she kept crowing for a bit. i’ve heard of hens that crow because they’re at the top of the pecking order, or that there’s no rooster. she’s not at the very top, and we already have a rooster. i searched a bit online and saw that she might be sick, but she’s been acting normal, so i wanted to ask you chicken folks if anyone has any suggestions
here’s an old photo of her laying her first egg !

 

[500Chickens]

Chickens can't change gender. Sometimes hens do crow, though.

 

[kumokumo]

Chickens can't change gender. Sometimes hens do crow, though.

yes i know she can’t change genders, im just worried about why she’s crowing. i know she’s a hen, and that’s not going to change. i don’t mind crowing, since i already have one rooster. i’ve heard that hens can crow if they’re sick or hormonally imbalanced, and i want some advice about what to do.

 

[500Chickens]

@Slothinc @nuthatched

 

[Slothinc]

yes i know she can’t change genders, im just worried about why she’s crowing. i know she’s a hen, and that’s not going to change. i don’t mind crowing, since i already have one rooster. i’ve heard that hens can crow if they’re sick or hormonally imbalanced, and i want some advice about what to do.

Sorry I don’t have any other advice beyond just saying that sometimes hens just start crowing. Your tiny rooster - is he fertilizing all of their eggs? Is he the dominant one in the flock? Because if not, it is possible that she is filling that role (if she thinks that he isn’t doing his job.)

 

[DonyaQuick]

Some hens crow and everything else is normal and healthy for them. However, if she has also stopped laying eggs and starts to exhibit other changes then it might be something else: hens only have one active ovary, so if it shuts down for some reason (which is from some kind of internal issue but not necessarily a very serious one) then the other undeveloped gonad can do some odd stuff and give them a testosterone boost. That can result in behavioral and sometimes even feathering changes over time. I have a hen that almost certainly has that right now; she stopped laying last year, has grown an impressive set of comb and wattles, and is slowly assuming more roosterly behaviors. If it’s just crowing though, I doubt it’s that situation.

 

[D13]

so i have a pretty small flock. mentioned in my older posts, i have two lav orp hens, a salmon fav hen, a teeny tiny oeg hen and a oeg rooster. when i originally got my flock that i raised as babies, i had two lav orp chicks and two salmon favs (unfortunately, one of my salmon favs have passed away last year), and i got them out of the straight run bucket. as they grew up, i thought i had two roos, one of each breed. i thought my current salmon fav was a rooster when she was a baby; she was always aggressive and flighty, and now she’s at the top of the pecking order after the oldest hen passed. the other assumed rooster is named jiafei. she has a verryyy croaky voice, which made me think she was a rooster as a chick. but she lays eggs, and she definitely looks like a hen. she’s very vocal and likes to scream her head off. i thought she was sick originally since her voice was so croaky, but she’s about to turn two so i think that’s just how she sounds. but today she was screaming more than usual, so i came outside to check on her, and i found her crowing. unmistakable crowing—her head was cocked, she hit those notes and she kept crowing for a bit. i’ve heard of hens that crow because they’re at the top of the pecking order, or that there’s no rooster. she’s not at the very top, and we already have a rooster. i searched a bit online and saw that she might be sick, but she’s been acting normal, so i wanted to ask you chicken folks if anyone has any suggestions
here’s an old photo of her laying her first egg !

Consider yourself very lucky, crowing hens are highly sought for because of how rare they are! She won't change any habits and she should keep laying, so don't worry about it. I think it's super cool that you managed to get one of those! Even in my 5 years of chicken raising I have never once ended up with a crowing she.

 

[D13]

Some hens crow and everything else is normal and healthy for them. However, if she has also stopped laying eggs and starts to exhibit other changes then it might be something else: hens only have one active ovary, so if it shuts down for some reason (which is from some kind of internal issue but not necessarily a very serious one) then the other undeveloped gonad can do some odd stuff and give them a testosterone boost. That can result in behavioral and sometimes even feathering changes over time. I have a hen that almost certainly has that right now; she stopped laying last year, has grown an impressive set of comb and wattles, and is slowly assuming more roosterly behaviors. If it’s just crowing though, I doubt it’s that situation.

That is soooo weird dude. The fact that chickens can basically change genders is just ridiculously strange.