Aggressive chicken towards me all of a sudden

[peeping toone]

We have what the hubby calls "California Cross" hens. They are relatively small compared to the two "red" hens, with wild, floppy combs, and are very stubborn and very defiant. I am certain they are all hens. When they are all laying, we get 7 eggs (7 birds, 7 eggs). When we started this project, we had three roosters out of the straight run bought at the local feed store. One died from illness, one went to the dinner table because he was mean as sin, and the last I found dead one day in the coop. Yesterday when I went into their house, the white ones started flying up at me, while the red ones were pecking at my feet and ankles. One of the white maniacs flew up, grabbed on to my shirt and beat me in the face with her feathers. They circle me like a bunch of gang members about to jump me in to the chicken mafia or something. The white hens have always been a little spastic. But since they killed their last husband, they seem to have acquired a mean streak. Can the lack of a rooster cause hens to become more aggressive?

 

[The Pinto Pony]

We have what the hubby calls "California Cross" hens. They are relatively small compared to the two "red" hens, with wild, floppy combs, and are very stubborn and very defiant. I am certain they are all hens. When they are all laying, we get 7 eggs (7 birds, 7 eggs). When we started this project, we had three roosters out of the straight run bought at the local feed store. One died from illness, one went to the dinner table because he was mean as sin, and the last I found dead one day in the coop. Yesterday when I went into their house, the white ones started flying up at me, while the red ones were pecking at my feet and ankles. One of the white maniacs flew up, grabbed on to my shirt and beat me in the face with her feathers. They circle me like a bunch of gang members about to jump me in to the chicken mafia or something. The white hens have always been a little spastic. But since they killed their last husband, they seem to have acquired a mean streak. Can the lack of a rooster cause hens to become more aggressive?

No, not necessarily. I used to have a White leghorn and she was quite mean, maybe that's what your "California crosses" are. They probably think that they "rule" the place because they killed their rooster, also if you don't handle them very often they tend to become more aggressive. Hopefully they're just going through a faze!

 

[flock mommasan]

I have the same situation. My Brahma chicken all of a sudden has started nipping at my fingers and being aggressive towards me when I visit the coop. We've noticed that if she and the other chickens are out and our cats come around, she chases the cats away so maybe this has to do with her feeling "large and in charge"? She's somewhere around 25 weeks and has not started laying yet....

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have the same situation. My Brahma chicken all of a sudden has started nipping at my fingers and being aggressive towards me when I visit the coop. We've noticed that if she and the other chickens are out and our cats come around, she chases the cats away so maybe this has to do with her feeling "large and in charge"? She's somewhere around 25 weeks and has not started laying yet....

Sexual maturity seems to often come with a forward boldness, especially in friendly birds, don't be afraid to push your hen back or block her forward advances. She should calm down after a while, but hopefully still chases the cats away which is probably a good thing.

 

[flock mommasan]

Thanks for the suggestion to push back -- I did that this morning when she was pecking at me and she was better. I notice she's been harassing all the others a bit more than usual, too. I don't think there will be a problem with the chickens and cats...my cats are definitely afraid of the chickens! When they see them they give 'em a WIDE berth and still the Brahma (Salt 'n Peppa) often chases after them. hehehe. It's fun to watch!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can also push her gently to the ground like a rooster would during mating and hold her down for a few moments. She's going through chicken puberty, she's like a rebellious teenager.

 

[flock mommasan]

haha! chicken puberty -- makes sense! thanks!

 

[ChikkiDoodleRoo]

I know this is a bit older of a thread (also there are responses from even over a year from the OPs post), but I want to leave this here for anyone coming across this on Google like I did because I see a lot of old ways of doing things and thinking when it comes to this topic. You usually see the typical reply "this isn't normal and you should eat her before it gets worse".....first off, this is a LOT more common than you think, second, it is not necessarily because she wants to "dominate" you and yes, it IS normal. I have a silkie hen (the calmest and most docile of the bird breeds) that did this at about a year old....while she was doing this, she was also (sometimes minutes before even) squatting and presenting me with her backside like she would a rooster.....so I was clearly dominant to her so this was obviously not her trying to dominate me as just minutes before she was presenting to me and squatting. The attacking as a couple of other people have mentioned is many times due to hormonal reasons (as with my growing girl) and territorial reasons.

People seem to forget these are animals and a coop is THEIR territory, its where they live, eat, mingle, hell....even raise their young....so yes, the more protective hens can become aggressive/territorial over their coop (there are many fixes to this that don't involve eating your pet chicken every time it exhibits chicken behavior.....). For other hens its due to hormones.....such as in the case of my girl. I will write a dedicated post on how to deal with territorial aggression later, but for hormonal aggression, just simply pick her up and then pin her on the ground (VERY gently) and hold her there....then release. Usually she will be shocked and go about her business, if she tries again, repeat.

People need to remember that these are ANIMALS and this is normal animal behavior....no, it is not unusual and you see it quite often with hens attacking other hens for various reasons.

 

[CourtKnee]

I know this is a bit older of a thread (also there are responses from even over a year from the OPs post), but I want to leave this here for anyone coming across this on Google like I did because I see a lot of old ways of doing things and thinking when it comes to this topic. You usually see the typical reply "this isn't normal and you should eat her before it gets worse".....first off, this is a LOT more common than you think, second, it is not necessarily because she wants to "dominate" you and yes, it IS normal. I have a silkie hen (the calmest and most docile of the bird breeds) that did this at about a year old....while she was doing this, she was also (sometimes minutes before even) squatting and presenting me with her backside like she would a rooster.....so I was clearly dominant to her so this was obviously not her trying to dominate me as just minutes before she was presenting to me and squatting. The attacking as a couple of other people have mentioned is many times due to hormonal reasons (as with my growing girl) and territorial reasons.

People seem to forget these are animals and a coop is THEIR territory, its where they live, eat, mingle, hell....even raise their young....so yes, the more protective hens can become aggressive/territorial over their coop (there are many fixes to this that don't involve eating your pet chicken every time it exhibits chicken behavior.....). For other hens its due to hormones.....such as in the case of my girl. I will write a dedicated post on how to deal with territorial aggression later, but for hormonal aggression, just simply pick her up and then pin her on the ground (VERY gently) and hold her there....then release. Usually she will be shocked and go about her business, if she tries again, repeat.

People need to remember that these are ANIMALS and this is normal animal behavior....no, it is not unusual and you see it quite often with hens attacking other hens for various reasons.

Thank you for your response. I have a Welsummer who is about a year and a half now who is usually a quite timid and shy chicken. Last year she went through a period of time where we couldn’t wear one specific set of flip flops because it set her off and she would charge us and peck our feet. It seemed at that time to be tied to just that set of shoes. Now that the weather is getting a bit sunnier I have two hens who started laying again, everyone also fresh out of their molt, and Buckbeak our Welsummer has become even more aggressive than before. I had suspected it has something to do with her hormones. She charges my feet when in my flip flops, and when I push her back she goes off pecking at my hand and nearly drawing blood. I’m hoping it’ll run it’s course, I will just wear actual shoes and gloves if necessary. They are a flock of 6 without a roo and have always been so gentle. Even when I pick her up she isn’t attacking me, it’s just when she charges me and I’m right in front of her she goes for my feet and hands. I’m hoping she calms back down once her hormones settle and she starts to lay.

 

[tbecker826]

I am having the same problem with one of my hens named Violet. Used to be the nicest hen on the block. We recently lost the head hen in charge so I think she is now trying to be the boss. She don't come to me and she runs to away from me. She used to come to me when called. She also is trying to attack me if I pick up one of the other hens. Definitely following this thread,