Is my hen turning into a rooster? - She has spurs!

I just noticed spurs growing on my 2-year-old leghorn hen! Is she changing into a rooster?

Spurs usually grow on the inside of the rooster’s legs about an inch or two above the foot – pointing backwards and sometimes a little inwards. Spurs are part of the leg bone, that grows out into a point. The bone is covered by a tough protective sheath of keratin – keratin is the same stuff that our toenails are made of.

Baby chicks of both sexes have little spur buds, visible as a little dot on the lower leg. When the chick is a few months old, the spur buds on the males start to grow – the bone underneath elongates and the keratin cover develops and hardens. As the cockerel matures, the keratin sheath grows bigger and can be very pointy and sharp, and is often curved. Spur development can sometimes be seen in male chicks as young as three months old, but more commonly don’t develop until around eight months to a year old.

Roosters use their spurs if needed to protect the hens - jumping up with his legs forward, and his spurs raking at the attacker.

But my chicken with spurs is a hen, not a rooster. In fact she’s a leghorn and a very good layer of large white eggs. So how come she’s got spurs?
Well, actually it’s a myth that only roosters grow spurs – hens can grow them too. It’s not that unusual in the Mediterranean breeds, such as, leghorns (which are so named because they were originally from Livorno in Italy, which used to be known as Legorno). Even so, it’s not that common. Of my three leghorns, only Martha has spurs. She's 2 ½ years old, and it’s only this year that I’ve noticed spurs on her legs. So, no, having spurs doesn’t mean that Martha is undergoing a sex change and turning into a rooster.

But strangely enough it is possible for a hen to do something a bit like that.
Before a female chick hatches she has two organs that can become ovaries but only the left one develops and produces eggs. The one on the right remains dormant. But if something happens to that functioning left ovary, such as a tumour, or ovarian cyst or it’s affected by a diseased renal gland, then the organ on the right can develop. And sometimes, instead of developing into an ovary and producing eggs, it develops into a testis and produces male hormones. Those hormones turn off her egg laying and make the hen develop physical characteristics like a rooster – bigger comb and wattles, masculine colouring, and long tail feathers. And she can act like a rooster too – strutting around like the cock of the walk, and even crowing. But she isn’t functionally a rooster, she just looks and behaves like one because of those male hormones.

But just growing spurs is not a sign of sex change – it’s just normal for some chickens of some breeds. I’m looking forward to plenty more delicious big white eggs from Martha.
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