We have a crowing hen!

[ecudc]

It’s not too unusual for chickens without a rooster (maybe 1/10000) to go through phase where they will transition to looking and sounding like a rooster but they will never become a male fully. It sometimes happens even if there is a rooster if their ovary is damaged and their hormones get a bit unbalanced.

[Nicos]

That’s interesting ecudc.
Strangely , we have just had an egg which had a lot of fresh blood in it. Not a chick as there is no cockerel, but it does make me wonder after what you said about damaged ovaries whether or not that could be one of her eggs.
Not had one before so I hope it’s a one off.
I certainly don’t want to give eggs away to people for them to be confronted with a really off putting egg . Yuck is an understatement

[Nicos]

Well…she’s no longer crowing….gone off to different pastures.
We guess she was easily 8 years old - and clearly overweight if that might have had anything to do with it?

It all seems rather too quiet now. Interesting experience though…..

[shannonbrooke07]

what an interesting but fowl story!!!.

[Snoop Puss]

You thinking of replacing her with a rooster, Nicos? Maybe a bantam?

[Nicos]

Nah…the chook house is too close to one of the gites. Funnily enough though that would have been our choice of cockerel….

[mrsbusy]

Well we don't have a cockerel (rooster) but some of the hens are taking on that role - nudge nudge wink wink - much to my female dogs disgust and if she sees any hanky panky she breaks it up!! So far no crowing thank goodness - I don't mind a bit but neighbours down the road used to city life complained when our lad did his crowing and the noise police came round.

[Zelenina]

Here's a different story about changing gender roles in chickens. Way back when I was keeping a few free-range bantam hens, someone gave me a rooster who needed rehoming. He was a bit bigger than a bantam but not full-size, and mostly black in colour. I don't remember him being aggressive, but he used to strut around and crow and boss the hens in the macho way they usually do.

One of the hens had hatched out some chicks, but then she got sick and couldn't take care of them any more, so I was worried about how they would survive. But I needn't have worried. The rooster took charge of them and looked after them in just the same way a hen would. He clucked to them to get them to follow him, and found food and broke it up for them, and even huddled down with them all under his wings to keep them warm.