Silkie hen crowing

[- Serama Mama -]

Ok y'all! This black Silkie is DEFINITELY a hen; she just laid her first egg about a week ago. But I was up extremely early and went out to the shed to wake up with everyone. Well, imagine my immense surprise when I see and hear THIS:

Hen Hen Crowing

I was in shock. And I'm still in shock! Based on what I've read, an alpha hen may start crowing if she believes there are no roosters around who can challenge her for dominance. And seeing as how she's the biggest chicken in flock, since the rest are Seramas and the males have been unsuccessful in attempting to mount her, I guess she's just so damned alpha that she's taken it upon herself to establish a matriarchy in our flock I've got some other silkies growing up with at least one or two suspected males so hopefully once she has a boyfriend big enough to give her a "what for" she'll stop crowing. But...wow. If I hadn't known for a fact that she had just laid an egg, I would never have believed that was a hen crowing like that.

That's HER egg. No WAY that's a Serama egg and considering it was just stopped in the middle of the floor, that also fits in perfectly well with Hen Hen's way of doing things

Are there any other reasons a hen might begin crowing this way? She never did this before. And the boys have been trying their best to mount her, though she fights them off each and every time. Is this something I should worry about? Could it affect her hormones? Make her less likely to lay? Etc? Now I'm worried something might go seriously wrong. Or is this just one of those uncommon but not too uncommon things that just happens when you keep chickens?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. My partners and I are stumped by this. And we're all just astounded that she would begin to crow like this seemingly out of nowhere.

 

[sourland]

Can you post a picture of her ?

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

That looks kinda big for a silkie egg also. I never had a hen crow but I've heard about it. Yours looks like she's very proud of herself crowing like that!

 

[- Serama Mama -]

Sure, here's a photo of her. I couldn't post a video here so I just linked it up above but here's a shot of her:

She hatched April 29th. She was the smallest of all the silkies who hatched out. She has absolutely no wattle growth. I mean, they're starting to come in but they're microscopic. The boys most certainly know she's a hen as they've been attempting to mount her for weeks now. She is most definitely a girl. I just think that because my little Serama roosters have been unable to "seal the deal" she's just decided "F this, I'm gonna be the baddest b*tch in this flock!" I just never in a million years expect her to crow! I'm praying she grows out of this once she's got a few silkie boys her size that she feels are worthy of her special gift

 

[- Serama Mama -]

That looks kinda big for a silkie egg also. I never had a hen crow but I've heard about it. Yours looks like she's very proud of herself crowing like that!

Right?! I KNEW it has to be hers though because the only other hens laying were my Seramas and there's no way that came out of a Serama lol! The Polish Crested were only about 2 weeks old by that point so no way THEY could have laid it. This is all just so fascinating to me.

I had no idea chicken behavior went this deep or this crazy! I knew about fish that could turn into males and chickens that can lose their ovums and basically become roosters who can't fertilize but that's definitely not the case here.

 

[sourland]

She sure looks masculine.

 

[- Serama Mama -]

She sure looks masculine.

I promise, she's not! I think the comb is a bit large but getting her to stand upright like that was definitely a challenge as she also pretty consistently walks with her butt and her head at the same level. She and 2 of my Seramas are from my original hatch on 4/29/2020. She was the smallest of the silkies after about 6 weeks of growth and for that reason, I kept her. We did notice she started to develop a comb at around 4 months but there's no wattle growth to match (*hers have started to show in that you can see some mulberry discoloration around the edges of her beak but they do not dangle or protrude and are only visible when you part the feathers of her beard). She NEVER crowed before this, like my little Serama roos do the second they realize they can (I have video of one doing it consistently at 1 week old; it was the cutest little chirp you've ever heard!)

It seems like she's only started now that the boys have been consistently trying to mount her as everyone is reaching "that age" around now. She gets very angry about it and will chase and nip at them for a minute or two after each attempt, I guess because she doesn't feel that they're worthy of getting near that WAP (). And I'm guessing my Serama boys would be able to tell the difference between trying to mount a hen and trying to mount a rooster because I've never seen them attempt to mount another rooster.

Plus she is DEFINITELY laying eggs! There's literally not a single other bird in my flock who is capable of laying an egg that large. The other 3 silkies are still babies and were only born in August. And the rest of my flock is mostly class A and micro Seramas, with the only 2 B class being the hens that hatched the same day as Henrietta and their eggs definitely aren't anywhere close to that size.

Just for scale, that's the size of the eggs that my two oldest Serama hens have been laying.

I guess she's just a super alpha hen I'm just worried that it will interfere with her egg laying. She seems to have taken a liking to the other 3 silkies as she was the lone bigg'un in my flock for a while but man, I just hope one of them winds up bigger and an alpha enough rooster that he can tame her back to domesticity

 

[HenneryTheEighth]

Maybe she will just end up being an independent gal without the need for rooster “activity.” Unless you’re planning on hatching fertilized Silkie eggs .... but she is really an interesting bird.

 

[BunnyEberhart]

Very pretty bird. My silkie lays tiny eggs. But only compaired to my other hens. She was the last to lay. I was worried she was a boy because she had waddles but she is a very sweet lady. Loudest in my flock too. Cause she must be contrary. lol laid her first egg outside and everything. Here are 3 of my hens' eggs. My ISA Brown laid the biggest, then the silkie, and last the Easter Egger. So much fun. Lol