Google “aggressive dominant hens” and you’ll get tons of results, mainly pertaining to roosters. But what happens when you have an aggressive dominant hen? Hens and roosters are different, and therefore “curing” a dominant hen can be different than “curing” a rooster, because some techniques may work while some may not.
This is Sophia. She started pecking when she was a pullet, and slowly has become more aggressive with age. When we got her we didn’t realize that Rhode Island Reds tend toward aggression, and as we’ve added (and subtracted, unfortunately, do to illness) to the flock she’s maintained her position as top hen, sometimes over-pecking subordinate ladies and very occasionally drawing blood from me and my sister, and terrifying small children.
Chickens aren’t generally very photogenic.
When it dawned on me, through a combination of reading various articles and reasoning alone (“chicken jail” is not an option because our chickens are in a basic backyard and there’s nowhere else for her to go without her seeing the others) I think I’ve discovered it.
I started challenging her, whether she was advancing or not. If she puffed up her hackle feathers I’d stomp my boots, run toward her, and give her a sharp bop in the head (like a simulated peck). In nature this is how a dominant hen or even a rooster treat roosters under them. (Sophia is the only one who had never, not once, squatted for me.) The goal is not to make the hen fear you, but to respect your authority and to keep her distance thusly. Aggression should never be tolerated in chickens, or any animal!
It hasn’t been too long since I’ve started this tactic (only a week) and already I’ve seen vast improvement. Does anyone else struggle with dominant hen aggression? Let me know!
This is Sophia. She started pecking when she was a pullet, and slowly has become more aggressive with age. When we got her we didn’t realize that Rhode Island Reds tend toward aggression, and as we’ve added (and subtracted, unfortunately, do to illness) to the flock she’s maintained her position as top hen, sometimes over-pecking subordinate ladies and very occasionally drawing blood from me and my sister, and terrifying small children.
Chickens aren’t generally very photogenic.
When it dawned on me, through a combination of reading various articles and reasoning alone (“chicken jail” is not an option because our chickens are in a basic backyard and there’s nowhere else for her to go without her seeing the others) I think I’ve discovered it.
I started challenging her, whether she was advancing or not. If she puffed up her hackle feathers I’d stomp my boots, run toward her, and give her a sharp bop in the head (like a simulated peck). In nature this is how a dominant hen or even a rooster treat roosters under them. (Sophia is the only one who had never, not once, squatted for me.) The goal is not to make the hen fear you, but to respect your authority and to keep her distance thusly. Aggression should never be tolerated in chickens, or any animal!
It hasn’t been too long since I’ve started this tactic (only a week) and already I’ve seen vast improvement. Does anyone else struggle with dominant hen aggression? Let me know!
