Home › Forums › FOOD PRODUCTION, HARVEST AND STORAGE › Backyard livestock › Bizzarre hen behaviour – she's crowing!
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January 21, 2009 at 11:49 am #246756
Hi,
Much to my early morning surprise I saw and heard my little black bantam hen crowing today…and she even laid an egg for me today as well. I’ve had her for about 6 months and she’s been going on & off the lay, going broody quite a lot. i know she is a she – and I only have one other hen (and no rooster) so I’m not confused about the egg-laying (I got two eggs today).
Does anyone have any explanation for this behaviour? I googled and it is uncommon but not unheard of, but all the sites seem to suggest tumours, hormonal problems, or the dominant hen taking over the role of a rooster…..and always result in no eggs. So….any idea what is going on?
And if a neighbor complains about the crowing how much fun is it going to be explaining all this to council!? “Nooooo…i don’t have a rooster….”
My animals never seem to act normally….must get it from their owner….
Amused & befuddled,
tarn
January 21, 2009 at 12:35 pm #389531Someone else on this forum had a chook doing the same thing. Weird. I found the thread for you. Link below.
January 21, 2009 at 12:35 pm #389532tarn, that is strange! I have no idea why or how she is crowing.
Our roosters, though, they make that “I just laid an egg, I am so proud” sound and it is very annoying. We rush out, expecting to find a hidden nest in the garden and it’s just a rooster, singing about something.
Poultry are so funny.
January 21, 2009 at 2:23 pm #389533Maybe the little hen needs a therapist??? rofl…sorry couldn’t resist. We have a houseful of nutter animals too. I hope it is nothing bad and just her deciding she wants to be head chick…hehe
January 21, 2009 at 7:33 pm #389534tarn,
“the bitch” (aka as the dominant one) hasn’t started crowing yet but certainly rules the roost and this would explain why I only get one egg per day from two chooks.:confused::tup:
January 21, 2009 at 7:34 pm #389535Tarn, you may have already found the Backyard Poultry site, but if you haven’t I highly recommend it to all chook owners.
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/index.php
That she’s both crowing & laying is very weird. From what I’ve read, male is the default gender for poultry so if a hen’s ovaries are damaged it’s not a big step for her to take on male charastics. Having just one companion may also increase the chances of a hen acting more masculine if she’s inclined to go that way. You only need to cower one companion in order to feel Top Chook.
Sorry I can’t help with an explanation, but if she persists & you want to keep her, a rooster box may offer you a solution to the noise problem. Chooks can’t crow if they can’t stretch their necks.
January 21, 2009 at 9:04 pm #389536Hi Tarn
I have a hen we hatched back in 2001 who has just turned 7 yo and she crows sometimes !!
usually when she has just laid an egg :shrug:
G
January 26, 2009 at 12:18 pm #389537Hi Tarn,
Same thing happened to me, however, my crowing hen did end up being a rooster. I searched the internet, spoke to several chicken type people, and they all just laughed at me and told me it’s a rooster. I didn’t believe them, at first, but they were right.
Don’t get me wrong, I have heard of it before (a hen crowing) but thought I would share. Good luck. I think the rooster box is a good idea.
January 30, 2009 at 12:03 am #389538I thought i may be the only one with a crowing hen!!!! If i don’t get out early enough to feed her ,she lets me know with a crow here and a crow there:lol:
January 31, 2009 at 6:12 am #389539I have 6 Pekin Ducks, all female, they are constantly mounting one another!
fecundity is a word that is applicable to DUCKS!
hens can crow, it is mimicking, like some of the behaviour that is seen in other species – dominance behaviour? control? power?
if one is honest with oneself and observes human behaviour, similarities will be noticed!
we Homo sapiens – out of Africa – are the end result of 3.5 billion years of evolution
all life is kin – DNA – Carl Sagan
February 19, 2009 at 6:40 am #389540angusk wrote:
I thought i may be the only one with a crowing hen!!!! If i don’t get out early enough to feed her ,she lets me know with a crow here and a crow there:lol:
Now I don’t know if my crowing ‘chicken’ is a rooster or hen! mine seems to do it about 7am if i haven’t feed her/him (!) yet. getting more hens soon so i guess i will see if he/her gets knocked out of the top spot 🙂
February 19, 2009 at 9:19 am #389541Hi tarn,
I’m new here, so forgive me if I’m saying what’s been said — occasionally, with no major hormonal or other problem, hens can crow. It sometimes happens when there’s no rooster, and usually the hen that does it is a dominant bird.
Crowing hens usually make a sound with fewer syllables and far more croakiness than a mature boy. It’s also not quite as loud, which might be good news for your neighbours.
regards
April 10, 2009 at 1:46 pm #389542I have a crowing hen as well. She’s a rogue one that kept getting herself into the veggie garden so she was put in the pigeon run – she can’t get out but has lots of room and all the other chooks go visit her. She started to crow earlier this year. She still lays eggs as well. It is a little croaky but very definite crow. Sometimes the real rooster starts crowing and then she’ll reply with her own crow.
April 10, 2009 at 4:54 pm #389543Reminds me of an old (but sexist) saying
‘a whistling woman and a crowing hen is neither good for god nor men’
My grandmother used to say it to me when she caught me whistling…
April 10, 2009 at 11:49 pm #389544I have the opposite problem! My Indian game bird rooster, does a claytons crow! IE…he arches up and looks like he is crowing, but nothing comes out!!! He’d be the perfect suburbian rooster…the neighbours would NEVER know!! LOL 😀
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