Hen attacking me over TSC chicks—

[CasaCasarrubiasChickens]

My hen, Tiffany, went broody beginning of last month. Lost all but one chick, “Lucky”, on hatch day. I took Lucky away and kept her inside her in the brooder to keep her alive in case Tiffany was killing them or something. Chick was lonely, started imprinting on me on day 1 and freaked out whenever left alone. I called up to TSC for updates on chick shipments. A few days later on truck day I went and got 6 chicks to replace the 6 that didn’t make it. My broody finally broke about a week later. She has been allowing me to pet her again, sitting in my lap, etc. That was up until this afternoon.
An hour ago, I took one of my chicks, Sunny, outside to bond, let her get some sun and introduce her to outside in general. Tiffany noticed us after I had sat Sunny down in the grass and came running up. I was still crouched down with Sunny watching her and showing her things. But Tiffany comes over and sort of made herself big, got very still, and stood over the chick. She stayed like that for a bit as I was petting Sunny and her both to try to gauge wether the situation was going to turn aggressive or what.
Things seemed fine. All was good. She started foraging again and the chick was chill. Then I got ready to pick it up and she reared up at me. So I pushed her to the ground just firm enough to keep her there with one hand while I scooped Sunny up with the other. Well, Sunny started making distress calls and Tiffany lost it. She ran at me and I got scared and kicked her as a reflex. She did NOT like that. Chick was making more distress noises… then, Tiffany backs up, runs and FLIES AT MY FACE! Again, reflex kicked in and I swatted at her to defend myself. She was on the ground puffed up in a fighting stance. She was trying to decide wether or not she would run at me again, so I made myself as big, bad, and scary as possible and made LOUD noises. She stayed. So I grabbed her water and dumped it on her. This made her run away finally.

But now she runs away from me every time she sees me and is talking shit from afar. Is she going to hate me forever? I wasn’t rough with the chick. It was just time to go inside. It wasn’t even her chick, nor had she ever seen Sunny before. What so quickly made her decide “this is my baby, and I will mess you UP if you upset her”??? Will she be like this about any and all chicks I handle forever? Will she come home to roost tonight? Will she let me rub and love on her tomorrow morning? Or am I officially on her blacklist? This sucks. If I had thought she’d act like this about a chick that she has no relation to I NEVER would have let her near.

Apologies for constantly asking questions. I just don’t get it. Chickens seem to have more mood swings than I do.

 

[CasaCasarrubiasChickens]

Also, I’m sure I’ll get disciplined for my reflex to defend myself. What should I do next time she decides to attack me? I can only be gentle up to a certain point. But when she flies at my face talons out I can only be so careful. She’s not hurt, she’s fine. Just highly emotional and very mad at me. She’s in the neighbors yard having a fit. I didn’t know what else to do. But at least the water made her chill out.

 

[aart]

Sounds like she's still in broody mode, doesn't matter if the chick is 'related' to her.
I'm not going to scold you for defending yourself from a fierce broody flying at your head.

Did you try to graft the chicks back to her?

 

[WoDia]

When little Miss Tiffany goes into ‘puff mode’, make sure you’re not down on her level. Sounds like she sees your face as an easy target. Perhaps you could keep a broom with you to brush her away in case she goes at you again.

 

[CasaCasarrubiasChickens]

Sounds like she's still in broody mode, doesn't matter if the chick is 'related' to her.
I'm not going to scold you for defending yourself from a fierce broody flying at your head.

Did you try to graft the chicks back to her?

I didn’t try returning the chicks to her. After watching 6 of her clutch of 7 die on hatch day, it concerned me. So I kept the one survivor inside the brooder where she has remained with her 6 adopted siblings. I don’t want to risk losing anymore, but I also don’t want the super broody behavior to return right this moment… my kids are starting to play outside more again, and I have a 6 month old daughter who is tied to my body practically 24/7. So I’m not as available to be outside with them all the time as I would be otherwise. If she attacked one of my kids, there’s a chance I wouldn’t be there to step in. The behavior she portrayed toward me the other day would seriously anger me if it were to be directed towards one of my kids. I teach them as much as I can about chickens so that they know… but they are curious by nature. They’d never harm her, but they love to observe her and try to pet her when she allows it. I’d just hate for that to go bad, especially if I weren’t right next to them.

 

[CasaCasarrubiasChickens]

When little Miss Tiffany goes into ‘puff mode’, make sure you’re not down on her level. Sounds like she sees your face as an easy target. Perhaps you could keep a broom with you to brush her away in case she goes at you again.

Thank you, thats a good notice. I was down on one knee when she first got ill with me. But I was standing when she went at my face. That’s honestly the only EXTREMELY broody behavior I’ve seen out of her since a few days after the 27th (hatch day). She had never acted towards me in that way before. Definitely threw me off. I will keep a broom near! Also, I read about “pecking” chickens in the head to establish pecking order. Should I begin giving her little taps on the head throughout the day to assert dominance? I just don’t want that to happen ever again. I’ve gotta bring all 7 of the chicks out again soon so that I can clean their area out. I don’t want that to become a fight as well. Sucks when it’s like that! It made me sad as much as it bothered me!

 

[SourRoses]

I would ignore her for a few days. Not as punishment, just to give her time to forget. Keep general flock engagement to a minimum and hopefully she will go back to normal.

At the age the chicks are, it's not good for integration unless you and she both want her to be mom. Otherwise keep them apart until they have more feathers and don't seem like little chicks to her that need protecting, if you don't want a repeat of this kerfuffle.

Nobody with sense here is going to think less of you for defending yourself. We scold people who don't protect themselves and then complain that they are bleeding. Or if simple things could be done to prevent the problem in the first place. But you didn't know this was going to happen, so you did what you had to.
I would only caution you that now you know how she feels, don't try to force a "just friends" basis on her with the chicks. She either wants to be their mommy or to not be taunted with them until they don't stir motherly feelings.
When you bring them outside, make it somewhere she can't see them.

What you don't want is to get into repeating negative interactions, because then she will think of you as an enemy and the friendly interaction will be gone for good. Just avoid situations developing in the first place.
Let her miss you, and when you do come back to spend time in xyz days, bring treats to make it fun but keep it short and simple. If she acts a brat then, don't bring treats again and mostly ignore her until spring is over and her hormones start to calm down.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

How's it going? Is your hen loving you again does she still want chicks?

 

[WoDia]

Hope all’s going well with Tiffany and the chicks.