But when the neighbours insisted there was a cockerel crowing in her orchard, where she keeps the chickens, she decided to check.

The 53-year-old teacher Gill who lives in the village of Treales, near Preston said: 'I had just bought some new hens and originally thought the poultry breeder had accidentally sold me a cockerel.

'I take photos of all my chickens and get to know all their character traits and couldn't see that any of the new batch were cockerels.

'Eventually, I found that it was a Black Rock chicken called Honor I had bought the year before who was crowing.

'Because I see her everyday I hadn't really noticed the change but when I looked at her I could see she had grown a bigger comb and longer wattles beneath her neck.

'I couldn't believe it when I saw her crowing. I was flabbergasted.'

After seeing Honor crowing away on the shed, the mother-of-two, who lives with her partner IT consultant Lionel Gowland, 53, went on to the internet to try and discover more.

A poultry website explained that this sort of sex change in chickens was a one-in-10,000 rarity. It happens when a damaged ovary causes the hen's testosterone levels to soar and therefore the bird's appearance and behaviour change from female to male.

Orginally called Honor- after Honor Blackman- owner Gill has renamed the bird 'Your Honor', to acknowledge the chicken's new more masculine status.

Gill said: 'Your Honour obviously doesn't lay eggs anymore but I couldn't stand to eat her so she gets to stay with the other chickens.'