woke up to my 'hen' crowing this morning

[swallowedAfly]

i take it this does mean 'she' is a cockerel? it wasn't the cock-a-doodle-doo of nursery books more just a screaching 2 syllable job but...?

it is a royal pain as i only have 2 chickens - they must now be about 4 months old and not laying yet - i got them at about 10 weeks. i really wasn't wanting a cockerel or to have more than two this year. i'm pretty sure the place i got them from would swap me for a girl if they still have them but i don't know if i can do that as won't the other one miss him? do they miss each other? and would bringing another one in with the remaining girl cause problems?

help please!

her name is pearl which wouldn't make a bad transvestite name i suppose my moaniest neighbours on each side have passed away so i probably wouldn't get lynched or anything but i really wasn't planning on a cockerel and keeping him would mean having to get another hen and i was actually quite happy with two as it would be enough eggs for us and if i can't let them free range they have plenty of room in their little house and run.

she/he is a harlequin leghorn. what to do?

and would it work to just bring in another female anyway? surely with two against one it could cause probs? or is it different when the sexes are mixed? bloody hell!

i shot out of bed when i heard it because i instantly knew but had to actually see it. grr.

ha! i just realised i have a cocklodger.

If its a cockerel then you need another hen for sure as otherwise one hen on her own will be rogered senseless from dawn till dusk.

Sometimes hens can crow.....especially if there's no cockerel about.

Can you put a pic up.

she still looks like a girl. her comb is no bigger really than the other ones and she is the same size as the other one.

how can i tell for sure?

and thanks for the thought of constant rogering!

We were given a jungle fowl a few years ago who immediately flew into the neighbours garden and stayed there. Neighbours love her and she is spoiled by them.
She has recently taken to crowing even although she must be about 8yo. It sounds like a rusty and pathetic doodledo. I don't know why she does it and don't think it is a territorial thing as she is the only hen in the neighbourhood.

yeah they can do it but from what i'm reading it tends to be when a cock dies or leaves and one hen decides to be the cock.

have been out with them and looked and the crowing one has suddenly become a lot stronger and more wriggly/assertive when held - as in making a song and dance resisting and pushing wings out against me only to them sit calmly on my hand independently when it's made it's point. she/he has literally one tail feather that is curling up and over a bit now but the rest lie flat/rounded. she/he might be seeming a tinier bit bigger/fuller than the other one now but their combs are still the same size and brightness.

not sure what to think now!

i am really confused after doing more reading.

if 'she' is a cockerel then i think they are both cockerels because there's really is no distinction worth noting between them in terms of feathers and comb and leg thickness and size. am going to do another inspection for saddle feathers and hackles.

crowing is continuing and there is definite behaviour change.

i'm confused because if they are males then they are very late developing cockerels because from all the images i've seen they should be far more markedly 'male' by this age than they are.

haven't called the place where i got them yet. i'm sure they'd be willing to swap them but i doubt they have females as they had a really high amount of males. when i got them they did look distinctly different to their male counterparts but ??? and hurumpf

right - been and really thoroughly inspected feathers and i really can't see any saddle feathers on it and the ones round the neck are all still rounded and lying flat. looking round the net at people submitting photos and asking about leghorns they have all shown signs of saddle feathers and/or hackles at younger ages than mine are - have seen submissions of 12wk old ones asking are they cockerels and everyone says definitively yes look at the saddle feathers etc.

so mine are a month older than that and no signs other than the crowing and behaviour change (and that might be due to me having been so busy they haven't been handled as much as they used to be plus i don't know if all chickens go 'teenager').

also i was a bit worried reading that girls combs tend to fall to the side in this breed whereas the males stay up and my girls (we hope) had upright ones. but looking at the crower this morning i can see her/his comb is just starting to flop slightly to one side despite being red and healthy looking.

help!

Sounds like a girl then, just one who has decided to take on the role of cockerel as there isn't a proper cockerel.

Hens will do this sometimes- take on the job if no cockerel available. Wasn't there even a case of a bird starting out in life as a cock and then beginning to lay eggs a while back?

There's [[http://www.livescience.com/13514-sex-change-chicken-gertie-hen-bertie-cockerel.html this story].

And this one.

Versatile birds, chickens.

Soz

There's this story.

And this one.

Versatile birds, chickens.

yep - the more you read the less you know i'm finding because you just find exceptions over and over itms.

phoned where i got them from and the girl who is their chook expert wasn't there but will be in this week. guy on phone said basically all i can do is bring them in and let her examine them. we shall find out one way or the other. not that confident that she could tell any better than me though tbh which is maybe a bit unfair but she was very young and didn't seem to have been dealing with chickens long.

both of my ladies make a right racket

Is your girl honking a warning because she's seen something? My ladies do - they honk and honk and honk until I tell them to shush - but only for a reason!

my imposter chooks have just been returned.

my options are have a refund, wait for the batch of exchequer chicks they have now to be old enough and face the reality that they probably won't lay at all this year or take pekins that are ready to go and about 6wks off of laying instead.

the pekins are very sweet but obviously tiny eggs and i'm a bit worried about how they fare when it gets wet and muddy with all those leg feathers.

the exchequer chicks seems a palava as a) they likely won't lay this year and b) same gamble again given how late they can show sex characteristics.

hmm. what to do?

ha! just found a voicemail i'd missed yesterday from the chicken 'expert'whose back from holiday and she looked and said no i think they're hens. so she put them in with the cockerel whose on his own in one enclosure because he fights with other cockerels and he didn't want to fight them and seem fairly convinced they were ladies and treated them as such to which they responded like ladies.

what a palava!

i'm off on holiday in the morning and have no chicken care sorted so am going to phone and ask if considering all the confusion she'd mind keeping them till i get back from holiday and then pearl and blackbird can come home and i guess i'll just have to live with a girl who crows. i've been leaving their door to the house open because i've put good protection around the enclosure and with it getting dark so late i was struggling to stay awake and close them up. that will have to end and maybe then she won't crow to announce morning?

also i noticed after they went that someone two doors down from me has gotten chickens and i'm wondering if maybe they got noisier because they could hear/sense/smell them? or am i being daft now? her hens are really noisy, chatty ones.