A chicken in Ocala, Florida with two rear-ends has a county agricultural agent puzzled and seeking answers. How is this possible? How common is it? Should the hen breed?
Southwest Ocala residents Alfredo and Ana Cruz bought the Red Star chicken from a friend recently with a batch of other chickens. They raise the animals for fun, eating and sharing the egg bounty with friends and family.
Weeks after the purchase, Ana said, she noticed the hen had a fuller back area, accentuated by the chicken's plume of white feathers. The couple brushed the feathers away and found two pubic regions, spaced about two inches apart horizontally. Typically, there is one such region in the center with a single orifice.
The couple dubbed the chicken J-Lo after shapely singer and film star Jennifer Lopez, who is also known for her deluxe derriere.
"You know the singer? She has a lot of butt. Well, this one is bigger," Alfredo said, motioning toward the chicken, which was snacking on uncooked rice and casually strolling around her pet-carrying case.
He spoke from the Marion County Agricultural Complex, where the couple met Nola Wilson, the small-animal extension agent who examined the unusual hen. The appointment was set up so Wilson could examine the chicken.
Wilson's professional assessment: Yes, J-Lo has two pubic regions, one slightly larger than the other. And, no, Wilson said she has never seen anything like it.
Wilson plans to send the photos to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, which might be able to provide more information on the oddity.
"My main curiosity is why. Is it something genetic?" Wilson said. She advised J-Lo's owners to hold off breeding the chicken until she had more information. Otherwise, there could be some confusion among the breeding participants, thus frustrating and angering said parties with sharp claws and beaks.