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@Calli

Barred Wynadotte - Sex change?

My roughly year old barred wyandotte(would include pic but can't work out how to shrink file small enough..not tech!) used to lay eggs then noticed 'her' crowing and beating up other birds....
is this something in the water or am I missing something - apart from the eggs it used to lay????

Have had to separate it from rest....is the prognosis as bleak as husband recommends (the POT...gulp wobbly lip time) Crying or Very sad
Woodburner

I once had a chick that couldn't make up it's mind what it wanted to be. It looked like a hen but kept trying to crow. I can't remember what happened to it (probably the pot by mother-in-law's hand).
I later found that it's fairly common, I think having a cockeral (a proper one) helps prevent/cure it but I'm going back about 15 years so it's all a bit hazy.
@Calli

Thanks for the reply - she/he still crowing and acting macho!!! We do have a very rampant cockerel - Vinnie - who keeps them all in order!!But not this one - imitation not flattering! Laughing
Blue Sky

I think, if she used to lay eggs then you can be pretty sure she is still female Wink Maybe just a bit of a tom-boy. Has she started with the Doc Martins yet?

We have two that are always scrapping and behaving like males. Rufus (our resident cock) just ignores them and leave's 'em to it. After all he has plenty more to cope with.

Will be interesting to see if she starts laying again now that you have seperated her from the others.
tigger

Daily telegraph 19 april this year had an article on something which sounds just the same.
Woodburner

Having a cockerel around rules out my theory (I checked and yes it would be cured by having a cockerel around). Sounds like you have a news worthy hen! Odd they are both Wynadotte..
@Calli

Pretty sure is technically a she - but is thee any way I can encourage her to return to a productive hen????? OH at recipe books.... Sad
No doc martins but quite agressive had to separate from buff orps as one hen looking...well henpecked to say least(no I don't think for the right reasons either... Confused

Great so far gay cockerel and confused hen....time to change the water supply?
Woodburner

Search google for Freaky the hen
judith

I had a crowing hen a while back. In the end I put it down to the fact that she was getting too much attention from the men in her life (we had a spare cockerel that was overdue for the freezer). My theory was that she was pretending to be a cockerel so that the real chaps would lose interest in her.
@Calli

Judith, you could have hit the nail on the head - we do have two cockerels in the same vicinity,though in separate runs - she is in with the rampant Vinnie, not Fluffy the gay one....Do you think we should separate her/it altogether? I really don't need another cockerel!!!Will she ever lay again or is she really anti - men Cool

Another note entirely how old can you tell difference in chicks? Praying our two accidents are hens Confused
judith

It could be your problem. Perhaps she will calm down you put her in with Fluffy for a bit - or even put the chaps together and give all the girls a rest.

As for sexing, it depends on the breed. Some, like Orpingtons, are well nigh impossible to my untrained eye until they either start crowing or laying! With my Light Sussex crosses, on the other hand, I can usually spot a cockerel at about 5-6 weeks.
@Calli

The two chicks are light sussex - one is already showing speckles of black at the neck...they are amazing - grow soooo fast Very Happy

Wyandotte in with Vinnie (Light Sussex Cock, as his partner in nursery with the twins...) and the two orpingtons on an 18-30's holiday in the hope he will get the idea? Cool Confused
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