Can hens crow?

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Devonrich
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Can hens crow?

Post by Devonrich »

I have three Black Maran hens who are about 2 years old, but have never had more than 2 eggs at a time between them. I have recently introduced a cockerel and a hen Barred Plymouth Rocks which I hatched in an incubator.

A few weeks ago I heard the cockerel (Paladin) crowing which I thought was a bit early as he was only 9 weeks old and still making baby noises all day.

This morning I woke at 4:30 and went for a walk in the garden and saw the cockerel, alone wandering about the run, I thought I would watch him doing his morning crow. After a few minutes one of the Marans came out of the henhouse, chased him off and proceeded to crow. It must have been her/him all along.

This Maran (Dhansak) looks and acts like a hen the rest of the time. I have never seen anything that would give me a hint that he/she was anything other than a hen.

Any thoughts please?
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Mo
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by Mo »

I have read stories about hens
a) turning out to be cockerels all the time
b) changing to be more like cockerels after laying as hens

Just as in humans, s.ex/gender (whichever we're meant to call it) is not as fixed and binary as we like to think.

Mind you hens can have quite a loud cackle (laid an EGG, laid an EGG). Could she have been telling him in no uncertain terms that she was here first?
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HedgeHugger
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by HedgeHugger »

I have a hen that crows.
Sometimes I think she is trying to imitate the Jackdaws and crows that gather in the garden.
It is definitely a crowing noise though. She makes regular hen noises too, but a couple of times a month, she crows. She is a regular egg layer, spring to summer. She has long holidays, gave up laying in July last year, started again in Feb, this year.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by lancashire lass »

One of my hens "crows" too - not as sophisticated as a cockeral but more like a loud hiccup. She does it about sunrise when all the other birds are in full bird song. I haven't found out which one but I'm leaning towards the Bluebelle or the Gold star (definitely not the Amber star as I can hear her at the same time)

I think the problem might be hormonal rather than gender confusion - it's hard to tell with my girls as the older ones are in semi-retirement so egg laying is already sporadic at best of times but if they had been younger, I'd imagine they might not be as good a layer as some of the others.
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by bikesandbirdsbob »

Hi , I am told the boss girl can take on the role of boss boy .Still female but takes the lead in most things including role call in the morning.
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Devonrich
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by Devonrich »

Thanks for your replies. It seems she is letting him know she is the boss. Her crow is very good although not as loud as I would expect a cockerel to be. Presumably there will come a time when he is a little older that he will take over as boss. At the moment he runs away from all the bigger girls as does Freyjer, his sister.
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kitla
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Re: Can hens crow?

Post by kitla »

I have had 3 crowing hens. Tiny the Dorking apparently has a tumour on her ovary, she came to me crowing every day & quite bossy, but also laying eggs. She hasnt crowed for about a year now & is back to being a gentle & girly hen. Pip & Spot, both bantams that laid very large eggs for their size, both had an occasional spell of crowing - Pip's crowing was wonderfully tuneful, much nicer than my cockerel at the time!
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