Aggressive Swedish Flower Hen ... cockerel?

[nuthatched]

Peck her back with your hand, don't be gentle, she has to know better than to try you.

 

[Tonyroo]

Actually those are good pictures. I just wanted to see if she was a cross of a Sussex and Swedish flower because of her dark color and pattern.

 

[Tonyroo]

When she pecks at you, use your index finger and poke her on her upper shoulder of her wing. You have to do this repeatedly to make her stop behaving like that.

 

[AnnPann]

When she pecks at you, use your index finger and poke her on her upper shoulder of her wing. You have to do this repeatedly to make her stop behaving like that.

Agree with this. I had a leghorn pullet who started behaving this way to me and my kids. I “pecked” back with my hand and even chased her a bit, and the behavior stopped that day and hasn’t returned. Not an expert, but I figure it was because she’s at the bottom of the pecking order and was fed up and trying to assert some dominance over my kids/me.

 

[GigiMD]

Here are some more photos of Hilda.

I have poked back at her (although not in that spot) and kicked her away at times. I also sometimes lock her in the run while I give the others snacks. She has gotten better and now seems to understand that she is not above me in the pecking order although she will still challenge me. I also put long gloves on and picked her up a couple of weeks ago and held her for a while.

Thanks again!

 

[Meri Maura]

I LOVE your silver penciled Plymouth rock!!

 

[GigiMD]

Well if she's a Swedish flower hen she should be laying eggs through winter.

Hilda hasn't started yet, nor has my Plymouth Rock or Frizzled Easter Egger. They are all seven months old. My Silked White Easter Egger (Glinda) started laying last week (perfect little blue/green eggs) and is laying one pretty consistently every other day. I could tell she was ready for a couple of weeks because she squats and lets me pet her.

 

[GigiMD]

I LOVE your silver penciled Plymouth rock!!

She is sweet, too. She will jump up on the bench with me and let me pet her while I feed her snacks.

 

[marshbeloved]

Thank you for the quick replies! She (Hilda) pecks hard, turns to aggressively face me if I reach down to pet her, and sometimes lunges at me when I'm filling the food dish, etc. The other chickens are not aggressive at all. Hilda doesn't seem aggressive to the other chickens.

This is exactly how my new Swedish Flower Hen pullet is acting. Her name is Lucy and she is 20 weeks old. I raised her with lots of love and handling but the past few weeks she has been super mean to me. She doesn’t even peck, she actually bites. I have a bruise on my foot from her latching on to me. It’s bizarre because I expected her to be pretty relaxed based on the breed profile. All my other girls are content and kind or shy. I don’t know how to handle an aggressive hen!

 

[Tonyroo]

This is exactly how my new Swedish Flower Hen pullet is acting. Her name is Lucy and she is 20 weeks old. I raised her with lots of love and handling but the past few weeks she has been super mean to me. She doesn’t even peck, she actually bites. I have a bruise on my foot from her latching on to me. It’s bizarre because I expected her to be pretty relaxed based on the breed profile. All my other girls are content and kind or shy. I don’t know how to handle an aggressive hen!

When she does that to you, use your index finger and poker her a couple of times on her wing. Keep repeating this every time she does it to you. She will know to stop eventually. Chickens have a way of testing there handlers during there growth period.