judith
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Sex-change chickenWe have a young LS cockerel at the moment who really needs to take the one-way trip to the freezer as he is upsetting the balance of power in my little flock. The odd thing, though, is that it is the hens that are giving him a hard time, not his Dad. In fact one of the hens has started to take on cockerel behaviour - she does the one-wing-down dancing thing and when she goes for the young chap it is feet first, rather than just pecking at him as hens normally do. I am quite expecting her to start crowing any minute!
Has anyone seen this happening before, and any idea what is going on?
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monkey1973
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I've heard of it before but never witnessed it.
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Bugs
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Re: Sex-change chicken | judith wrote: | | she does the one-wing-down dancing thing and when she goes for the young chap it is feet first |
Ours do this a fair bit to each other. The littlest one uses it on the biggest one especially because when she pecks she doesn't really reach anywhere that hurts. It's quite scary to see - maybe your lady is doing this to him because she's too small to have much effect with her beak?
Obviously not keeping chaps I've never seen it this way round but I have often heard of young males being picked on by older ladies.
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tahir
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Re: Sex-change chicken | Bugs wrote: | | I have often heard of young males being picked on by older ladies. |
Its more older male getting picked on by younger females in our house
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Bugs
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Re: Sex-change chicken | tahir wrote: | | Its more older male getting picked on by younger females in our house |
No, that's not bullying, that's justice.
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monkey1973
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Re: Sex-change chicken | Bugs wrote: | | but I have often heard of young males being picked on by older ladies. |
That was Wayne Rooney's excuse anyway.
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Bugs
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Who or what is a Wayne Rooney?
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judith
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| Bugs wrote: | | Who or what is a Wayne Rooney? |
Isn't it some sort of bantam?
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monkey1973
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He's a soccer player. You do know what soccer is don't you? 
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monkey1973
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| judith wrote: | | Bugs wrote: | | Who or what is a Wayne Rooney? |
Isn't it some sort of bantam? |
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judith
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| monkey1973 wrote: | | You do know what soccer is don't you? |
There's not a lot of call for that sort of thing around here. 
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judith
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Re: Sex-change chicken | Bugs wrote: | | Ours do this a fair bit to each other. The littlest one uses it on the biggest one especially because when she pecks she doesn't really reach anywhere that hurts. It's quite scary to see - maybe your lady is doing this to him because she's too small to have much effect with her beak? |
The hen in question is a good-sized RIR, so she isn't a lot smaller than the cockerel. If your ladies are doing it too, then that would suggest that it is simply a pecking order thing then, not some excess of testosterone floating around in the ether. Shame - I was hoping she would settle down and start laying eggs again once the young man had been removed.
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