HEN DESERTS ITS SEX

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1935, Page 4

HEN DESERTS ITS SEX

HAS BECOME A ROOSTER INTERESTING STRATFORD CASE. EXPERT ASCRIBES A REASON. RARE OCCURRENCES RECALLED. A highly interesting bird that has so far distinguished itself from the common run of household poultry as to make it an object of interest to all Stratford poultry-keepers is in the fowlyard of Mr. J. C. Allen. It was a hen, but just recently it has apparently turned traitor to its sex, and now gives every indication of becoming a thoroughly normal rooster. It is at present in the transition stage, being a rooster in every respect but its tail, which is still that of a hen. A further development in that direction is expected, however. The fowl, a White Leghorn now in its third year, had until recently been regarded as perfectly normal, and was a good layer. The first indication of any change was noticed by Mr. Allen, who remarked to his daughter on the peculiar looking rooster in the yard. She told him there was no rooster there, but investigation showed that the one-time hen bore a remarkable resemblance to a rooster, and since then the change has become more pronounced. The theory connected with the phenomenon advanced by a Stratford poultryman attributes it to modem specialisation and development. The modem commercial hen, he said, had been so highly developed for laying purposes that its organs were very delicately adjusted, and the slightest thing could upset them. That upset was apparently the root cause of the change in sex. Similar changes, of course, were known in almost all living creatures, even in human beings, but they were very rare. A similar occurrence which recently took place during a laying test at Burnley, when the bird in the case was a Khaki’Campbell duck, was quoted by the same poultryman. When taken to Bumley it was selected by its owner as a prolific layer. Starting off well it laid four eggs in the same number of days. A change then became noticeable; the plumage gradually altered to that of a drake; the head thickened and curled tail feathers appeared. It now possessed all the colour and characteristics of a drake.