My head hen (also one of two who routinely fly over the fence to free range) was repeatedly trying to crow this morning. She looked and sounded rather ridiculous, although she was getting a recogniseable crow out, neck extended and hooked, and flapping her wings like a big girl. What's up with that? I don't have a rooster. If I wasn't laughing so hard, I would have tried to snap a photo.

No rooster... "Nature abhors a vaccuum" maybe? Must have been a sight!

I hope she doesn't have to use any public bathrooms in North Carolina ... that might be confusing for all involved.

She's still doing it. I read that often a flock without a rooster will trigger this. It's sure amusing.

Is she still laying eggs or has she decided to implement a complete sex change?

Near as I can tell, she's still laying. With 8 hens, I still get 8 eggs often enough to assume all are producing.

Ah, so she wants to have it both ways...

I had a Black Star hen that "turned into a rooster" once a few years ago. I had learned that this can happen back in Ag class in HS. In all my years it's only happened once. She was about 8 years old. I've read that they can have some hormonal changes when they get older and they start to transition. (Caitlin Jenner, you're not the first ) This one grew a larger comb, got longer spurs and crowed every day. She quit laying eggs though. I never saw her try to mount a hen though. I had 3 other roosters at the time. One night I forgot to lock the chickens up, and a raccoon came. Two of the roosters and she/he must have tried to defend the hens, and they were all dead the next morning. I think I wrote about this in some other thread a while back, sorry for the repeat.

She was at it again today. I tried to catch it on video but she became shy (or more likely was looking for a free handout).

When one of our hens lays an egg, she "crows" to the whole world what she had just done. So every single chicken in proximity "crows" in celebration of the event. It becomes quite a choir!

Yeah, my hens are awfully proud of their eggs as well, and they cackle loudly with every offering. This is my head hen and she is actually trying to crow like a roo. She hunches her neck, flaps her wings, and lets loose with the most pathetic 'crow' I've ever heard. Not quite sure what might happen if I ever get a rooster again (our last one was just too mean for words).

What breed was your mean rooster? I have had numerous roosters - none on purpose - and never had a mean one.

He was a Welsummer. I had a Rhode Island Red years ago who was nice as pie. Here's Roto-Rooster (the meanie):

Ah, the Kellogg's cornflakes rooster!