Older Hen Pecks New Mother

[BigBlueEgg]

We have a new mother of 9 chicks that are about 5 days old. They are in a coop with 4 other hens. When they are all outside, we have noticed that when the mother squats down with the chicks under her to warm them up, one of the other hens will come over and start pulling feathers out of the mother's neck. The mother doesn't do much (she was lower in the pecking order originally.) Just wondering if this is a problem. The hens are perfectly fine with the chicks and don't even seem to mind if the chicks come over and try to peck at the same things they are pecking at. We also saw the mother viciously attack the one hen that was/is lower in the order than she was (not sure if it did anything to a chick or not.)

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Pork Pie]

I'm no expert but it seems to be relatively normal. My alpha hen will peck at a hen that i have removed from a nest after she has laid an egg (some start to go broody, so i remove them from the nest) as the hen assumes a squatting position for a short time.

As long as there is no bloodshed, i would not worry too much.

I prefer to use my alpha hen for hatching - protection of chicks and access to food etc is guaranteed! (other members state that they have subordinate hens hatch without any issues, i should add).

CT

 

[aart]

Not unusual for the broody mama to have some pecking order battles after hatching.
As long as they are not prolonged or bloody just leave them to it.
I've had to break up a few.