Hello! For no reason other than that I have only a few days left to meet my goal of 'at least one post per month' this year, may I introduce you to the seldom talked about subject of sex change chickens?!
If this is news to you, it really is a thing - more accurately known as 'sex reversal'. Hens typically only have one functional ovary (the left one) and if it becomes damaged through disease, their right ovary starts to develop in place of it. But it's possible for this to have some tissue characteristics of the testes as well as, or instead of, the ovary.... This becomes an 'ovotestis' which releases androgen, the hormone group which contains testosterone, as well as estrogen - and the hen can start to develop male secondary sex characteristics. It only works that way around - female to male - still genotypically female, as in her genes, but phenotypically male, i.e. features and behaviours on the outside. Her wattle and comb may grow to resemble a rooster's, her feather pattern can change and she may even crow.
You're welcome!
Ok, really this is just an excuse to post a song which I listened to today for the first time since...well, I think it must have been around 1984, the year of its release. A time, I think, when eccentricity in music had a kind of naiveté about it, something quite unselfconscious; I rather miss the innocent silliness of some of that '70s/early '80s scene. Hull band, Indians In Moscow, had had a successful indie hit with their first single 'Naughty Miranda', and this one came along the following year. It reached the dizzy heights of number 101 in the UK Indie Charts... I guess you could say it was a little more niche?
"I've been on Calendar, I've been on Nationwide." Ah, heady days!
