6 month old leghorn pullet violently attacking me worse than rooster

[Purelychicks]

Do you have an account on any other platform that hosts videos, like Instagram or vimeo? Those links will work here too.

I don’t have Insta and idk what Vimeo is I will try to make a YouTube account

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

They should make a feature on here so we can add videos

BYC did, for a while, have a video feature, but I believe that it was taken down due to it being expensive to upkeep.

Oh I don’t have a YouTube account

It is very easy to set one up and post videos. If you don't want your video to be totally public, you can change the settings on your video so that it is only available to people who have access to the link.
This being said, if you are a child or young teen, I would ask for your parents' or guardian's permission first, just in case.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

That was my chicken; "she" passed away from cancer at age 4 1/2 and was confirmed at necropsy by my state lab to have an ovary, oviduct and two ovotestes. However, "her" behavior was completely opposite the subject of this thread, she never showed any aggressive behaviors whatsoever. I am currently researching to write an article about this fascinating subject.

@Purelychicks , my intersex chicken was an absolute joy to have around, while your "hen" is literally a threat to your physical safety. She may be laying eggs, but she is showing typical behaviors of a hormone-crazed cockerel. It IS possible she is a true hermaphrodite (now called gonadal intersex). The condition is very rare, but yes possible. The fact that she looks more like a hen and is laying eggs, yet her behavior is that of a testosterone-crazed, aggressive cockerel is very suspicious. It is more likely she has a compromised left ovary and her right ovary is becoming dominant and producing testosterone is more likely, but IDK if she would still be laying eggs if that was true. If you are currently opposed to euthanizing "her", I would immediately separate her from the flock and keep separately penned, or separate the rooster from "her" flock to see if her behavior reverts back to her former norm.

Whatever you decide to do, please don't hold "her" or let her anywhere near your face. I agree with the others that you could lose an eye if you do so. The fact she was very friendly before her behavior suddenly changed is another typical sign of a cockerel reaching puberty. The fact she looks like a hen but acts like an aggressive cockerel is opposite of my intersex chicken, which looked very masculine but her behaviors were that of a sweet and docile hen. If I had a cockerel acting this way, I would absolutely euthanize in a heartbeat. If you eventually decide to do so and are curious, you can send the carcass to your state lab for necropsy, to have confirmed if there is anything abnormal with her reproductive system. Request a microscopic examination of her gonads if you do so.

This is very interesting…. What is that thread called? I’d like to read more about this

 

[Purelychicks]

BYC did, for a while, have a video feature, but I believe that it was taken down due to it being expensive to upkeep.

It is very easy to set one up and post videos. If you don't want your video to be totally public, you can change the settings on your video so that it is only available to people who have access to the link.
This being said, if you are a child or young teen, I would ask for your parents' or guardian's permission first, just in case.

I put it on YouTube but It’s taking forever to upload.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Just skimmed through this thread... Has the hen shown any further aggressive behavior? It's not an unheard-of thing for a hen to grow spurs. I've had a few that did and I've seen several other people with hens growing spurs. As far as the aggression, do you normally spend a lot of time with your hens and give them a lot of treats? I have this one hen who will claw your hand raw with her beak if one isn't careful. Why? Treats. She expects treats to be in my hand even after I've shown her that my hands are empty. I'll have to hide my hands from her just to get her to stop. Then several of my hens will normally surround me and scratch me with their beaks, which can be very painful. That is all because they want treats. (I have spent a lot of time trying to get them to stop, so they aren't as bad as they once were.)

Of my hens, I've also always had the "eye peckers." These are the hens who will try to go after the eyes the most and should be watched closely. My current eye pecker has gotten both my eye and my little brother's eye unexpectedly at least once. The time she got my eye, she was perched on my shoulder and I never saw her coming. Hens like her will also go for the teeth, so be careful there too. Chickens, especially eye peckers, shouldn't be around faces anyways, but even with that in set, I know of one person who was feeding their chickens and their hen jumped up and got his eye that way. As far as your earring, these eye peckers are marked eye peckers because they're more drawn to shiny things than other chickens who might not care as much. Automatically, I wouldn't want any earring near a chicken because they will pick it, but an eye pecker might be more determined on getting it.

The topic of broody was brought up. I have a hen who went broody at your hen's age before, so it is a possibility. Her aggression could also be due to other nesting behaviors. Some hens will allow you to take their eggs from them. Other hens will pluck your hand bloody if you even go near them. It all depends on the hen. There's a possibility that she could have needed to lay an egg and you "invaded her space."

Another possibility on her behavior is this: Was you wearing anything new? New sweater, new shoes, shorts instead of pants, etc? Or even a new perfume? People have had perfectly fine chickens straight out attack them over them wearing something different. One person on BYC a while back actually said if she's ever found dead in her backyard, it was the chickens who killed her. Her whole flock had literally, violently attacked her because her chickens saw her new socks. On me, my bantam rooster would go crazy whenever I wore these fluffy blue mittens around him. So with your hen, it could very well be something different about you that caused her to attack. Plus, her mother's aggression in her bloodline added to her attack instead of her just nervously clucking at the newness.

If it wasn't something like you wearing something new or anything and her attacks continue, I think you're going to need to treat her like an aggressive rooster. When she attacks, pick her up. (Hold her away from your face!) If she bites your hand while holding her, you'll need to hold her upsidedown by her legs. (This is perfectly fine to do as it calms the chicken and I've had experienced chicken keepers recommend holding a chicken this way. I suggest holding her legs above her hocks so she doesn't get stressed out by trying to upright herself.) The simple picking her up should stop her as chickens normally don't like being held. Hold her for a couple of minutes, then sit her down. If she attacks again, hold her firmly on the ground while petting her beak. You're trying to show her that you're in charge so she stops attacking you. If she attacks again after that, do that last part again until she stops attacking.

If she never stops her aggression, I suggest finding her a home that will know that she's aggressive. A home like that will probably be a farmer who isn't emotionally close to their chickens and will probably have freezer camp as their retirement plans. There is plenty of people out there that will take her. And who knows, you might be lucky like I have to find someone who doesn't throw their retireds in freezer camp but will allow them to free range till their hearts content. These people her often have large farms that might even have aggressive roosters but the chickens have so much free ranging space that they're never around.

I hope the best of luck with your hen. I also hope you've found something helpful in my post.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

This is very interesting…. What is that thread called? I’d like to read more about this

Post in thread 'I have an androgynous chicken' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-have-an-androgynous-chicken.1504007/post-26254503

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

They should make a feature on here so we can add videos

You should be able to upload videos here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/create

If your video doesn't have the right image name, it might not upload. (I'm sure what the correct image names are.) I saw someone just say that they stopped this feature, but on that link it still has an icon showing video, so I don't know.

 

[Purelychicks]

You should be able to upload videos here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/create

If your video doesn't have the right image name, it might not upload. (I'm sure what the correct image names are.) I saw someone just say that they stopped this feature, but on that link it still has an icon showing video, so I don't know.

Shes acting alright currently..

 

[Purelychicks]

Just skimmed through this thread... Has the hen shown any further aggressive behavior? It's not an unheard-of thing for a hen to grow spurs. I've had a few that did and I've seen several other people with hens growing spurs. As far as the aggression, do you normally spend a lot of time with your hens and give them a lot of treats? I have this one hen who will claw your hand raw with her beak if one isn't careful. Why? Treats. She expects treats to be in my hand even after I've shown her that my hands are empty. I'll have to hide my hands from her just to get her to stop. Then several of my hens will normally surround me and scratch me with their beaks, which can be very painful. That is all because they want treats. (I have spent a lot of time trying to get them to stop, so they aren't as bad as they once were.)

Of my hens, I've also always had the "eye peckers." These are the hens who will try to go after the eyes the most and should be watched closely. My current eye pecker has gotten both my eye and my little brother's eye unexpectedly at least once. The time she got my eye, she was perched on my shoulder and I never saw her coming. Hens like her will also go for the teeth, so be careful there too. Chickens, especially eye peckers, shouldn't be around faces anyways, but even with that in set, I know of one person who was feeding their chickens and their hen jumped up and got his eye that way. As far as your earring, these eye peckers are marked eye peckers because they're more drawn to shiny things than other chickens who might not care as much. Automatically, I wouldn't want any earring near a chicken because they will pick it, but an eye pecker might be more determined on getting it.

The topic of broody was brought up. I have a hen who went broody at your hen's age before, so it is a possibility. Her aggression could also be due to other nesting behaviors. Some hens will allow you to take their eggs from them. Other hens will pluck your hand bloody if you even go near them. It all depends on the hen. There's a possibility that she could have needed to lay an egg and you "invaded her space."

Another possibility on her behavior is this: Was you wearing anything new? New sweater, new shoes, shorts instead of pants, etc? Or even a new perfume? People have had perfectly fine chickens straight out attack them over them wearing something different. One person on BYC a while back actually said if she's ever found dead in her backyard, it was the chickens who killed her. Her whole flock had literally, violently attacked her because her chickens saw her new socks. On me, my bantam rooster would go crazy whenever I wore these fluffy blue mittens around him. So with your hen, it could very well be something different about you that caused her to attack. Plus, her mother's aggression in her bloodline added to her attack instead of her just nervously clucking at the newness.

If it wasn't something like you wearing something new or anything and her attacks continue, I think you're going to need to treat her like an aggressive rooster. When she attacks, pick her up. (Hold her away from your face!) If she bites your hand while holding her, you'll need to hold her upsidedown by her legs. (This is perfectly fine to do as it calms the chicken and I've had experienced chicken keepers recommend holding a chicken this way. I suggest holding her legs above her hocks so she doesn't get stressed out by trying to upright herself.) The simple picking her up should stop her as chickens normally don't like being held. Hold her for a couple of minutes, then sit her down. If she attacks again, hold her firmly on the ground while petting her beak. You're trying to show her that you're in charge so she stops attacking you. If she attacks again after that, do that last part again until she stops attacking.

If she never stops her aggression, I suggest finding her a home that will know that she's aggressive. A home like that will probably be a farmer who isn't emotionally close to their chickens and will probably have freezer camp as their retirement plans. There is plenty of people out there that will take her. And who knows, you might be lucky like I have to find someone who doesn't throw their retireds in freezer camp but will allow them to free range till their hearts content. These people her often have large farms that might even have aggressive roosters but the chickens have so much free ranging space that they're never around.

I hope the best of luck with your hen. I also hope you've found something helpful in my post.

Thanks! I was wearing new sunglasses and shorts. (She’s never seen me in shorts before because it’s been so cold until yesterday.) and I usually have a “happy hour” with them where I sit on the ground with them and give them all treats. She used to be my favorite and would never peck at me or anything except when I had treats she would peck at my clothes. Now she slowly walks towards me and pretends to be “scratching” at stuff similar to roosters before they fight, and then lunges at me periodically. Like flogs me, similar to broody behavior. She is 100% an “eye” chicken and has been since she was only a few days old but she would never flog me like this. It would only happen if she perched on my shoulder, like yours. It’s really odd because her behavior fluctuates a lot. So she goes from psychotic broody behavior/raging teenage cockerel, to the classic “hi pet me and give me treats!”

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Shes acting alright currently..

Ok, good.

Also, idk if it matters but “she” is bigger than all her siblings that hatched the same day as her. She’s also only layed 1 egg. And for everyone concerned about me losing an eye, I wear sunglasses. Oh also, her comb fluctuates from white to BRIGHT bright red. And I mean within seconds it fluctuates. Is that normal?

Size can depend on bird to bird. She could have taken after her father's size and her siblings after her mother, or vise versa. With the one egg, plenty of new layers will lay an egg then go awhile before laying another. (I would look for a secret nest though.) On her comb, that can be normal. It's her adjusting to temperature, changing her mood, etc. Turkeys are a good example of this happening.