I wrote last week about Buckbeak, the unusual Easter Egger. For months now, everyone who knows about chickens has been telling me I have a rooster. Buckbeak’s color pattern, saddle feathers, and spur buds all seem to confirm that. We were a bit disappointed, because Buckbeak was our only Easter Egger, and we’d really been looking forward to collecting some pretty blue eggs. But we weren’t opposed to having a rooster, and he didn’t show any signs of aggression, so we started to look forward to hatching our own chicks, and hearing Buckbeak crow every morning instead. We were still waiting for that when, on New Year’s Eve, we discovered a blue egg in one of our nesting boxes after all! The coop cam has been rolling ever since, and now, I’ve finally captured a video of Buckbeak the “rooster” laying an egg!
I’m still not sure whether this means s/he’s a hen, or if she could be some sort of genetic anomaly instead. A hen with a damaged reproductive system can begin to look like a rooster because of the disruption in her hormones, but when that happens, the hen normally stops laying eggs around the same time it develops the male characteristics. Buckbeak looked like a rooster for months before s/he laid that first egg. It’s also possible for a bird to be a gynandromorph, meaning simultaneously male AND female. It’s wild concept, but I suspect it might be what we’re seeing here. I may never have a solid answer, but I’m sharing this video as proof to my friends in the chicken community that Buckbeak isn’t a typical rooster.
It’s clear from posture and movement that Buckbeak is laying an egg here, though the egg itself is hard to see at the end, partially obscured by the pine shavings in the nesting box. I’ll post a better video when I can get one, but Easter Eggers aren’t the most reliable layers in the winter time. It’s not every day I get to see my rooster laying an egg, but when I do, I’ll be sure to update this post.
UPDATE: I caught Buckbeak laying on the coop cam today! This time you can see the blue egg clearly afterward. Boudica’s little egg is there too. She was leaving the box just as Buckbeak went in.
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UPDATE: Buckbeak has laid yet another egg. This video is the best one and leaves no doubt.