Weird behavior between best fr-hens

[Exhibitionhouse]

Of my 5 girls the Buff Orpington (Paige) and an unknown all black breed, possibly Ayam Cemani mix or Svart Hona mix (Piper) are what I perceive to be as best friends. I'll look over and theyre side by side more than the others. After I hold piper for a min or two Paige will start pecking at her and when I put her down she chases and pecks at her, pretty aggressively too. The photo is of a few min after this happened and you can see they're back side by side. The barred rocks always stick together too. It's pretty adorable.

Note: Piper is super skittish but chill when she's in hand.

All I can think is goes down something like this:
Paige: "Hey where's my best friend you smell different...IMPOSTER!"
Piper while running away: "No girl its me, chill!"
Paige a few min later: "Oh...yeah okay you smell normal now"

Anyone have any other ideas of what might be happening here?

 

[Debbie292d]

Of my 5 girls the Buff Orpington (Paige) and an unknown all black breed, possibly Ayam Cemani mix or Svart Hona mix (Piper) are what I perceive to be as best friends. I'll look over and theyre side by side more than the others. After I hold piper for a min or two Paige will start pecking at her and when I put her down she chases and pecks at her, pretty aggressively too. The photo is of a few min after this happened and you can see they're back side by side. The barred rocks always stick together too. It's pretty adorable.

Note: Piper is super skittish but chill when she's in hand.

All I can think is goes down something like this:
Paige: "Hey where's my best friend you smell different...IMPOSTER!"
Piper while running away: "No girl its me, chill!"
Paige a few min later: "Oh...yeah okay you smell normal now"

Anyone have any other ideas of what might be happening here?

Cute analogy, but you're pretty close to right, except they don't really smell us on them. They saw it though, and the jealousies kicked in. It's much like why some roosters start attacking their owners; they perceive them as a threat. Why, nobody really knows except it's their nature. There can still be a similar thing happening between your hens. Hens have a pecking order that we may not even realize. Paige wants Piper to get back in her place is my guess. The only way around that is to hold both of them.

 

[Exhibitionhouse]

Cute analogy, but you're pretty close to right, except they don't really smell us on them. They saw it though, and the jealousies kicked in. It's much like why some roosters start attacking their owners; they perceive them as a threat. Why, nobody really knows except it's their nature. There can still be a similar thing happening between your hens. Hens have a pecking order that we may not even realize. Paige wants Piper to get back in her place is my guess. The only way around that is to hold both of them.

Thats it! Fascinating, thanks Debbie!