I have 5 hens all 13 months old. 2 speckled sussex and 3 cuckoo marans. Been raised together and have been a very cohesive flock. I've been going through Broody Hell. One cuckoo was thinking about going broody, but I kicked her out of the nest box twice and she quit sitting in there. But she quit laying too. Then 2 weeks later another cuckoo went broody big time. So I put her in a kennel with no nest area and 3 days later she was fine. About a week and a half ago both those cuckoos started laying again. About a week ago, one of my speckled sussex started going broody. She's still laying an egg 6 days a week but she's walking around all puffed up, tail feathers up (she looks like a tom turkey) and "buk buk buk-ing" all over the place but she's not nesting. She's also low hen in the pecking order. ANNNNND my 3rd cuckoo started going broody yesterday. This however is NOT my problem except that it may relate to the aggressiveness.
Yesterday I noticed the cuckoos were chasing the broody sussex away from the scraps. So I set out a separate bunch of them for her and that worked.
They normally free range all day and are in the coop at night. There's a coop with a very secure door that opens to a 6 X 8 foot run. Today I went to let them out into the run (I keep them in on mornings I'm cleaning paddock cause they're sort of a pain). I notice the broody sussex in the upper floor of the coop where the roost poles and the entry to both nest boxes are. Everyone else is down off the ramp doing the "open this door NOW" dance. So I open the door and step out of the run, closing the run door. At that point the broody hen comes down the ramp and out the coop door, thinking I've opened the run. My lead hen, who was first to go broody, chases the broody sussex. The cuckoo that's broody and 3rd in pecking order joins in and they corner her in the run and the broody cuckoo jumps on her back and starts pecking at her head and neck and pulling out feathers. I jump in and pull her off and the lead hen jumps on her back and grabs a beak full of feathers and starts yanking hard. The whole time my little broody sussex is screaming. Fearing they were going to injure or kill her, I let her out of the run and keep everyone else in while I go do my paddock cleaning.
My questions are...
Has anyone had experiences like this and would they have killed her?
And what on earth made this aggressive behavior start in the first place? I suspect it has to do with the broodiness and perhaps they don't like the way the sussex walks around all puffed up, but I'm very concerned here. The lead hen can be a bit of a bully, but it's more of a "I'M eating at this bowl so go find your own" instead of actually attacking. I did see her once go after my other sussex who is 2nd in command and pull at the feathers on the back of her head, but that was the end of it.
Any ideas, suggestions, similar experiences and advice? It was very distressing to see that happen today.
Yesterday I noticed the cuckoos were chasing the broody sussex away from the scraps. So I set out a separate bunch of them for her and that worked.
They normally free range all day and are in the coop at night. There's a coop with a very secure door that opens to a 6 X 8 foot run. Today I went to let them out into the run (I keep them in on mornings I'm cleaning paddock cause they're sort of a pain). I notice the broody sussex in the upper floor of the coop where the roost poles and the entry to both nest boxes are. Everyone else is down off the ramp doing the "open this door NOW" dance. So I open the door and step out of the run, closing the run door. At that point the broody hen comes down the ramp and out the coop door, thinking I've opened the run. My lead hen, who was first to go broody, chases the broody sussex. The cuckoo that's broody and 3rd in pecking order joins in and they corner her in the run and the broody cuckoo jumps on her back and starts pecking at her head and neck and pulling out feathers. I jump in and pull her off and the lead hen jumps on her back and grabs a beak full of feathers and starts yanking hard. The whole time my little broody sussex is screaming. Fearing they were going to injure or kill her, I let her out of the run and keep everyone else in while I go do my paddock cleaning.
My questions are...
Has anyone had experiences like this and would they have killed her?
And what on earth made this aggressive behavior start in the first place? I suspect it has to do with the broodiness and perhaps they don't like the way the sussex walks around all puffed up, but I'm very concerned here. The lead hen can be a bit of a bully, but it's more of a "I'M eating at this bowl so go find your own" instead of actually attacking. I did see her once go after my other sussex who is 2nd in command and pull at the feathers on the back of her head, but that was the end of it.
Any ideas, suggestions, similar experiences and advice? It was very distressing to see that happen today.
