My female Australorp is mounting another hen

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cjpines

cjpines

Songster
5 Years
Apr 30, 2014
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Placerville, CA
I have 5 hens 6 months old. One has started to lay eggs. We noticed the Australorp is mounting the female BR who is laying. She seems to be acting like a rooster,but she doesn't crow.

What could be going on?
 
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Could you post pictures? Either them in the act or to see if it's actually a hen or cockerel.

I've had chickens my whole life. Never saw a female chicken mount another.
 
soydo said:
Could you post pictures? Either them in the act or to see if it's actually a hen or cockerel.

I've had chickens my whole life. Never saw a female chicken mount another.
Click to expand...
I'm not set up for pics yet. She jumps on the hen's back for just a few seconds. It's only the one hen she's after.
 
cjpines said:
I'm not set up for pics yet. She jumps on the hen's back for just a few seconds. It's only the one hen she's after.
Click to expand...
I looked up pics of Australorps, roosters and hens. She definitely is a hen. I'm thinking because she's 26 weeks old and hasn't laid an egg yet, it may be hormonal. Funny isn't it.
 
I'm having the same issue with one of my Australorps.She is the second biggest and mounts the smallest of the four.. and all four of my ladies are laying so no roos..
 
I saw this behavior in mine yesterday. The red cinnamon (should be sex linked?) 14 week old jumped on top of the hen who has been laying for over a year, grabbed and held onto her comb and was really going at it. Red has no signs of being a roo, no feathering or crowing. Could she be a different breed? I posted pictures of her at about 8 weeks and everyone said female, but that behavior was really startling. Poor Jewel. After Jewel shook her off, they went at it so I'm thinking dominance. Dominance fits in with other actions--Jewel won't let the young birds up onto the roost at night. I have to go in and remove her, let the others in and then let her go in last. Jewel also keeps them away from treats and goes at them at other times for no apparent reason. (Side note, granddaughter had to do a report on bullying and this made for a good conversation about finding your place in the world/assertive behavior v bullying).
 
sometimes if you have all females, one of them will assert more dominance and "take on the role of the rooster" to the point of mounting. That would explain the behavior of chickens that young.

We once had some ex-batt leghorns who were about 2 yrs old. One must have had some hormone changes because she started mounting and crowing.
 

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