HELP!!!!! Hens acting like Cockrell ????

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

I have a hen (definatly) and she's acting like a cockrell.

She picks up food and puts it down to attract females.
She makes the "i've found some food" noise to.

Today she started Crowing like a rooster. But high pitched.
She even moves her head like roosters do when they crow.

Is she schizophrenic? She i put her down?

My real rooster attacks her when she gets too close.
This has only started in recent weeks and the crowing today.
She has been trying to crow for a week or so as we've heard her
practicing.

How weird is this?


Mark.

[Martin]

that'll be a "himshe" -much loathed by commercial poultry keepers - there's no political correctness whatever shown, the general consensus being "wring it's bally neck, it's no good to man nor beast"

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

Hmm, i'm thinking that way myself.

Additional.... On the back of my "real" cockrells legs are small pertrusions.
They seem to be made of bone or something had (maybe toe nail)

My HIMSHE also has this bone sticking out from the rear of its legs.

This is too much like the crying game for me.

Mark.

[Sassinak]

They are spurs. They are used to fight with and can cause a really nasty puncture if you get caught by one.
In days of yore they were covered with a sharply pointed metal casing to ensure the greatest possible damage was done when cock fighting.

There is something strange about hen genetics - there is bound to be someone who knows more than I do. But it is quite possible for a bird to start off hen and lay eggs and then gradually turn male.
It has something to do with the extra chromosome being attached to the opposite sex on birds than it is on humans. So a castrated man becomes more feminine but a problem with a bird it becomes more masculine. I don't think they can ever be fertile. I think they just got through the motions so to speak

[Thurston Garden]

Yep - it does happen. We had a couple of Buff Orpingtons a couple of years ago. They were part of a breeding trio but the cock attacked the previous owners bairn. They wrung it's neck and talked us into taking the 2 ladies.

Within a few weeks, one of the laydees did not know if she was Martha or Arthur...

[Sassinak]

I know it is fairly common in some breeds of tropical fish. Molys and swordtails especially. The male must give off some sort of repressent hormone. If the male dies or is removed, there is no hormone present so the dominant female will become male - handy trait to have possible for feminists

[pikilily]

Went into the hen house this morning to find two of the nesting boxes occupied...no problem there ! Well.... one was Rory, my No 2 cockeral..sitting on eggs and refusing to budge! He was making all the broody henny type noises and pecking at me when I tried to get the eggs.

Ive heard of mister-hens but not miss-cockerals!
Eh?

Beleive it or not I was actually writing on the site last night about 'how can I get my girls to go broody' when I got bumped off the net so the post didnt get through. Rory must have been trying to proove a point!!

Anyway I dont mind about the gender issue with Rory but I still dont know how toencourage the Hens to sit!
Any ideas I will also post this as a new topic but it seemed to follow your theme well!

[Shirley]

We had a him/she - gorgeous (s)he was too - died early to be honest but other than that didn't cause a problem.