Spontaneous Sex Reversal – Is That My Hen Crowing?!
A Spontaneous Sex Reversal Can Result in a Hen Exhibiting Aggressive Rooster Behavior
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Have you heard a hen crowing when you know you don’t keep roosters? Jeff Goldblum’s groovy scientist character in the 1993 blockbuster, “Jurassic Park,” comments that “life finds a way” and that somehow the all-female population of cloned dinosaurs would reproduce. Well, life is stranger than fiction and your backyard chicken CAN undergo a spontaneous sex reversal and become a rooster!
A hen is born with two ovaries like a female human (sort of). The left ovary in a hen grows and develops. It is this left ovary that produces all of the necessary estrogen in a hen’s body that regulars the production of ova (though these are called oocytes in chickens) and their release into the oviduct tract. The right “ovary” in a hen doesn’t actually develop at all as the bird grows. Rather this gonad sex organ (i.e. right “ovary”) remains small, dormant and undeveloped.
A spontaneous sex reversal occurs in a hen when her left ovary becomes somehow damaged or fails to produce the necessary levels of estrogen. A hen’s left ovary is the only organ in her body producing estrogen. Without the left ovary properly functioning in a hen, the estrogen levels in her body will drop to critically low levels and conversely testosterone levels will rise. Without proper estrogen levels, how do chickens lay eggs? The hen will no longer produce eggs.
More disturbing though, a hen who’s left ovary has failed and consequently has elevated testosterone levels in her body, will actually physically transform to take on male characteristics. Such a hen will grow a larger comb, longer waddles, male-patterned plumage, and spurs. Moreover, this hen will also adopt aggressive rooster behaviors — such as a hen crowing.
You might be thinking to yourself, just because a hen with high testosterone levels grows spurs, long waddles and takes to crowing like a rooster — does not make her, in fact, a rooster. It just makes her a very butch hen. If that was all that happened in a spontaneous sex reversal of a hen — you would be correct. There is more to it though!
When a hen’s left ovary fails and sufficient testosterone levels are reached in her body, the hen’s dormant right side gonad becomes activated. When the dormant, right-side gonad is switched on, it develops into a male sex organ, called an ovotestis. Scientists have found that an ovotestis will produce sperm. A sexually reversed hen with a “turn-on” ovotestis, will actually try to mate with the other hens in the flock. There is conflicting information as to whether a hen that has undergone a spontaneous sex reversal and developed an ovotestis can sire offspring. At least one account of a sex-reversed hen fathering chicks exists on the web.
Dr. Jacqueline Jacob, a poultry expert (whose Ph.D. is in Poultry Science) wrote a very informative paper on the spontaneous sex reversal phenomenon in chickens. Dr. Jacobs discusses this rare condition in episode 018 of the Urban Chicken Podcast. Listen HERE to learn more about this truly fascinating and bizarre chicken phenomenon. There are links to several news articles about spontaneous sex-reversed chickens in the show notes of this episode.
Recently, a couple of Urban Chicken Podcast listeners wrote to report about hens crowing and behaving like roosters all of the sudden in their flocks. You can read more about these stories sent to me about spontaneous sex reversal in backyard hens HERE.
One last thought on this subject, there are rare cases of roosters reportedly also being able to undergo sex reversal — thereby becoming hens and even laying eggs. The cases of rooster to hen sex reversal is so extremely rare that it is not fully understood and is a topic that is still hotly debated.
Have you ever heard a hen crowing? Let us know.
Originally published in 2014 and regularly vetted for accuracy.
My female chicken lays eggs but also cock-a-doodles. Very interesting to read what you say about it.
My hen has stopped laying,, her comb and all around that area have got larger, and she crows like a rooster, she even resembles a rooster. She is 3 years old.
Yes it is happening in my yard now. Very annoying too I dont want her hurting my other birds but she is.
We have a buff orpington that has recently started to crow. I wondered what the heck was going on when I went to let the chickens out one morning and heard a strange noise coming from the coop.
I thought I was going crazy when I saw it. My buff O mounted another hen. I sometimes hear a strange near crow sound but I didn’t see the culprit.
Strange that my Buff Orpington too (!) has developed a crow, she crows with a rooster, in the roost, during the night. She also competes with the rooster for dominance. Both are only 7 months old. I wonder if this is genetic (breeding) or related to food (estrogen mimickers, as it happens with people, maybe more GMO or Roundup exposure)? So all in all, out of 5 (expensive) hens bought at 1-2 months, 2 turned out to be non-egg laying birds. Oh well! The rooster is a Lilac Leghorn, all other hens also of different breeds.”
If those eggs are fertile you should definitely incubate some. If sired by a sex reversed hen then her sex chromosomes are XX and so are the other hens. This theoretically means zero chance of rooster chicks in the offspring. You should get 100% hens!
In birds females have different chromosomes while males have the same chromosomes (ZW system), so two females mating would produce 25% male eggs, 50% female eggs and 25% eggs unable to develop.
Does this happen in ducks also? Out of my 3 ducks one stopped laying and is now mounting the other 2. I there anything that can be done other than culling?
My beautiful, absolutely gorgeous frizzle, Zsa Zsa, just crowed…I am shocked!
I have a hen that tries to mate with the flock, she doesn’t crow but is noisier then the others and is always the first one to me clucking at me.
Just tonight I noticed bullseye looking spots on some of the yolks. It was my understanding that this means they may be fertile eggs.
I have 14 young chickens and 1 older 1 that was getting picked on by the other chickens at my friend’s house. The older chicken has been laying and today one of my young chickens mounted her. This one is very tame and follows me around I feed her in my garage and she enjoys the ac but today she mounted the other and then attempted to crow it didn’t sound very good. I don’t know what is going on. Possibly a rooster? It’s a brama with red and black, I also have black and white ,and white and black brahmas, they are large I don’t know
Russell, Could be a young rooster. But hens can also display androgynous behaviour. Do you notice changes in the bird’s crest or wattles? Longer tail feathers?
Just saw my chicken mount another female. I was shocked, but somehow I remember hearing about this phenomenon. Very interesting!
We separated what we thought was a rooster(It’s facial features and tail resemble a rooster, it even has spurs) for defeathering other birds and have gotten eggs in the pen that only he is in. Any thoughts?
I have a hen who has done this also! Since last fall I have a 3 year old black austrolorp hen that has grown a large comb and wattle, crows at 5 and 6 am and sometimes in the afternoon. This chicken acts normally in all other ways:) very weird
My five year old hen is just s
tarting to crow. I only have 2 hens left out of 6 we bought 5yrs ago . She use to lay.