[Helencus]

Has this happened to anyone else? I have or should I say HAD a 6 month old hen that was laying small pullet eggs and I noticed it stopped laying and was attempting to crow about 3 weeks ago and now it has cock feathers and is full on crowing! I have heard it can rarely happen but didn't really believe it.. I do now!

[Birdie Wife]

Hi, it does happen! I had a hen that was laying, she was bottom of the pecking order/ THen one day I heard her crowing, and she even tried treading the other hens, and keeping them in order just like a cockerel would. She didn't go as far as growing different feathers, and when I got a cockeral she stopped crowing and went back to being her old self.

[Helencus]

Thing is I already have 2 cockerels so other than she/he was bottom of the pecking order I don't know why.

[chrismahon]

Happens when the ovary is damaged Helencus. Sudden surge of Testosterone causes the effect of turning into a cockerel, but they can't reproduce. I read it only happens to 1 in 10,000 hens but perhaps it's rather more common than that.

[Bramblecot]

We had one like that earlier this year.  She was an ex-battery hen, possibly a Sussex Star (white), laid normally for about a year then started trying to crow .  The crowing got worse...and then the fox got her 

[daddymatty82]

is a very common occurence iv seen it happen twice