[Pretty Chick]

My cockerel is kept separate from the hens.
We have 3 enclosures for the chickens and he is kept in one of them. We have 3 hen houses, 1 in each of the enclosures.
I've 2 broody hens at the moment. They are both shut in different houses. One is kept shut in by herself all of the time and the other is shut in by herself during the day, but at night the cockerel goes in with her.
All of the other hens go into the 3rd house at the moment.

Anyway, Yokey the cockerel is shut in 1 of the enclosures and shut out of the hen house for the day. There is also a mini house in his enclosure for him to shelter in if it rains.

Last night we went to take him out of the mini house to put him in the hen house with broody Rosie, when we found an egg in the mini house     .
The egg can't possibly be Rosie's because she has been broody for approx. 2 weeks and has been shut in the hen house all the time.
No other hens are in that enclosure.

I'm really confused  . Has anyone got any ideas on how on earth there was an egg in the mini house?   Our enclosures all have chicken wire roofs, so it's not an egg from a passing bird who decided to nest in the mini house.
My local chicken breeder said she once had a cockerel who started to lay eggs.
This is probably a really weird question, but could Yokey be turning into a hen??
There's probably a very good explanation to why the egg was in there, but I can't figure it out.

[Craig69]

I am a newbie to keeping hens, but whilst i was on the internet i came across something about a cockerel laying an egg.
I'm not sure if it was a joke as you can't always believe what is uploaded to the internet.
It was some research someone was doing (can't remember where) on a cockerel & after a period of time they claimed this cockerel started to lay.
They said that it was the birds way of trying to keep his species going, because he was on his own.
It was a while ago i saw this & can't remember anything else that was written.
I will ty & find it if i can, but like i said i am new to this & am not convinced that there is any truth in this.

[Craig69]

Here's the link.

Like i said i'm not convinced, but as someone posted in the comments on this, fish & frogs are known to do this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1267691/Gianni-gender-bending-rooster-starts-lay-eggs.html#comments

[Pretty Chick]

Okay, thank you very much Craig  .

[Pretty Chick]

I've just been down to the chickens and was shocked to find yet another egg in the mini house. I know for definite that another hen hasn't been in there today and I definitely know it wasn't there last night   .

It's not possible for another animal to get in to his enclosure and back out again.
Rosie has been shut in her house all day (except when I took her out for 10 mins and watched her), so it's not her either.

Yokey is an orpington buff.

Does anyone think Yokey is laying eggs???

[joyfull]

even though your hen is broody she could still lay an egg if she is starting to come out of her broodiness.

[Pretty Chick]

Hi joyfull 

Rosie can't be the one laying eggs in the mini house because she's always shut in her hen house. I take her out 3 times a day for no more than 10 minuites and always watch her. Rosie isn't coming out of her broodiness because she is incredibly reluctant to come out when I lift her out and she sits on the ground for a while. When she gets up she's like a giant ball  .

[joyfull]

looks like you are going to have to sit there all day and just watch your cockerel to see if he/she really is a boy or if it is like the one in the papers