My Hen Thinks She's a Rooster!

15 years ago

I have eight hens who have all been laying eggs for some time now. I recently had to give my only rooster,a white Silkie away, because the neighbors complained of his crowing. He's been gone for a week now and all of the sudden today, I heard a faint weird crowing sound coming from the chicken yard. I looked out the window and saw our Black Minorca hen mounting our New Hampshire Red hen. Then, the Black Minorca hunched down on the ground in a submissive pose. This black hen has always been the lowest hen of the pecking order. Our rooster never offered her food and would chase her away from the rest of the hens. She would never submit to him to mate. Now, it's like she's turned into the rooster. I can't believe what I saw. Very weird. She laid an egg just today. I know this because she's our only hen that lays white eggs. Strange.

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Comments (7)

allaroundgoatgirl
15 years ago
believe it or not, its actually quite common for a hen to take the place of a rooster thats flown the coop. crowing, growing spurs, and even mounting other hens is not unheard of. usually its the highest hen in the pecking order that takes his place though!

theyre crazy animals!
sumac
15 years ago
Too funny! I posted almost identical inquiry some time ago. I think you can find it here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farmlife/msg0121355032676.html
or search this forum for hen turns into a rooster.
I will add that we still have our roosterette. Still don't know if she's a he/she or a butch hen like velvet sparrow described. We alternate between calling her 'she' and 'he' but we always refer to her as the rooster. She had one sickle tail feather and the start of roosterly hackles but lost that with the last molt. Still no spurs. She looks like a hen with big comb and wattles. I think I might have seen a male appendage when he was mating one of the girls, but not sure what that looks like! No eggs. Still low in the pecking order as the hens pretty much ignore his roosterly antics, but they do follow him around for goodies then proceed to ignore him again when he calls with treats.
Girly boy I guess.
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Congrats on finding her after all this time! You are right not to try putting her through another setting cycle... She sounds in rough shape. It is fairly easy to fool a hen, in most cases, but the usual way is to wait until dark, go quietly to where she is setting and slip a hand under her to remove the eggs and slip in the chicks. She will be pretty docile in the dark and will likely not object. When she hears the little chickie peeps under her, she will breath a big sigh of relief -- "At last!" - and make her sweet mama hen noises back to them to encourage them. By morning, all going well, they will have bonded. The problem with doing it the way you have planned is that she may view the chicks not as babies needing care, but rather as intruders endangering her nest. She may kill them. (Never mind that the eggs are gone and chicks hatch from eggs... Hens are birdbrains incapable of that much logic.) In the normal sequence of things, mama hens HEAR their babies peeping hours before they actually hatch. And it is sound rather than sight that makes them click into mother mode. Good luck with the "benevolent deception"! And please post to tell us how it went.
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The meet and greet in Fletchers yard went ok but as long as he is in the coop they won't go in and sleep. They slept outside in the rain all night, when I found them in the morning it was heartbreaking to see these two drenched hens. I opened the gate and they ran to their own yard. So we're back to him in his coop/yard and the hens in theirs when it's time for bed. I open the two yards in the morning and the 3 free range all day. Fletcher spends most of his days with the goats but will always "find" them a couple times a day so I think he's getting better. The hen in question doesn't let Fletcher push her around at all either, she will even take food from him and run. The other hen just runs in the corner. I hope in the next month it will be time to put them in together and keep my fingers crossed I don't have a choice they really do have to live together. If I end up with one hen will I have to get couple more? I'm not sure the younger one will survive 2 roos. Boy this chicken live is complicated and I don't care what people say they are pretty bright. When the hens got older and I did the meet and greet for the second time Fletcher didn't peck at them bute he would walk up close, lower his wings turn sides ways and side step right into them. You could tell what he was going to do so the hens would be prepared to run and he would run all over the yard side stepping! Also would I be better off getting a full grown hen if I have to get another? Lee Ann
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My neighbour and I also lost chickens the same way you did. They have the best chicken house and run a person could wish for. They blamed another neighbours dog for taking the head off the chicken - no way it could have gotten into the run and this dog would go in my chicken house with me and sit in my yard with the chickens/ducks wandering around it. This dog got killed on the highway and a few days later, I had a chicken killed with just it's head gone. I searched on the net and on this site and the suggestions were, coon, mink (which we have on the beach) or weasle. I gave my mother hen and 8 baby chicks to my daughter, who has a 9 acre farm a few klms north of us. She had the perfect little house for her, a run that was fenced in with a wire roof over the top of the whole run. The grandson and I dug down and put crumpled wire all around the bottom of the cage wire. She was very very safe. My daughter phoned one morning, the hen was dead. Some animal had dug under the front of the little house and had """ chewed """ the plywood that was into the ground, facing towards the run, there was a good size hole and "Henny's" head was gone. I know how you feel loosing your friend but there will be another to take it's place. Good Luck with your chickens.
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velvet_sparrow
15 years ago
Ha ha, the ol' 'crowing hen'. In the old days, they were seen as an ill omen and killed!

But yeah, it sometimes happens that hens crow, mount hens, call other hens over for goodies, etc. Nothing to be done about it. Their 'crow' usually sounds AWFUL, though. :)

Even though I've got two roosters, I have two little banty hens that insist on mounting other hens, and those two are daughters of another little banty hen that did the same, and all three have tiny, rubbery spurs. We roll our eyes and try to gracefully ignore the mounting bit.

Mother Nature does like her little jokes. :)

Velvet ~:>
roymandiver
13 years ago
Well we seem to have a confused Brabanter hen. Our Rooster Clint a brabanter was crowing at 5:30, so I went and picked him up and brought him in for some bonding. Our brabanter hen, Alice, started to crow. I guess they are getting broody. So now sometimes they both are crowing. Alice just has a more girley crow.
marie_47_live_co_uk
13 years ago
it just happend to one of my hens, i moved to an estate and thought it would be to much to keep ower rooster, so he had to go then about 4 weeks later one of my hens started to crow, it was today, what to do now just got ride of one rooster, i wonder if i have to get rid of her, and will there be another hen would change too, i dont know ?
aprilkelton_yahoo_com
13 years ago
I have 4 hens. A delaware, a barred rock, a rhode island red and a black orphington. We know all are laying except the orphington which is the low man on the todum poll and gets pecked by the others. She has all of the sudden started mounting the other hens, bitting the back of there necks and everything. We thought mabey she was older than we were told causing her not to lay but now wondering if she is or just thinks she a rooster. No crowing, no spurs. The others all sleep on the top roost and make her sleep on the bottom every night. The other three peck her and snap at her when she gets close. Cry for effection? Transexual?
way2bizzymom
Original Author
9 years ago
Well, it's now six years later, and we've still got our crazy crowing hen, who thinks she's a rooster. She has grown huge spurs, that we remove annually. Her crowing has improved so much that you'd swear she was a natural born rooster. She no longer lays eggs. She calls to the other hens to let them know there is food, and she dances around them like a rooster. I'm looking to find her a new home though because she's too loud and I don't think my neighbors like it. She is now a prize-winning hen. My daughter entered her into the county fair several times, and she has won several awards, including Best in Show, Best in Breed, Best in Variety, and many First Place ribbons and rosettes.

My Hen Thinks She's a Rooster!

Comments (7)

allaroundgoatgirl

sumac

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My Hen Thinks She's a Rooster!

Comments (7)

allaroundgoatgirl

sumac

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velvet_sparrow

roymandiver

marie_47_live_co_uk

aprilkelton_yahoo_com

way2bizzymomOriginal Author

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way2bizzymom
Original Author