Aggressive silkie help please!

[MysteryChicken]

I lean that's going cockerel. It could be genes, but wow, never saw wattles like that on a silkie pullet, and looks like hackles coming in, but then again, it's got the round puffy vault, not messy like a cockerel.

It's just guessing here, so I'd give it another couple of weeks, and it should be definitive.

Beardless Silkies get wattles. It's pretty much all I raise is beardless. I do have a few Bearded though.

Only difference with this bird id single comb, & dark face.

 

[Hloren]

I lean that's going cockerel. It could be genes, but wow, never saw wattles like that on a silkie pullet, and looks like hackles coming in, but then again, it's got the round puffy vault, not messy like a cockerel.

It's just guessing here, so I'd give it another couple of weeks, and it should be definitive.

I just sent her DNA in for sexing and she’s a confirmed female! Beardless silkies get wattles.
Any advice on correcting her aggression towards me? It’s focused on the coop front door when I open it. She won’t attack me inside the coop or in the yard.

 

[Debbie292d]

I just sent her DNA in for sexing and she’s a confirmed female! Beardless silkies get wattles.
Any advice on correcting her aggression towards me? It’s focused on the coop front door when I open it. She won’t attack me inside the coop or in the yard.

Awesome!

Yes, beardless silkies have wattles, obviously! We have a couple of beardless silkies, and many bearded, and they have wattles. Yours just looked so big for her age.


To break her, it'd be the same as I suppose a rooster. We don't have very many roosters that turn on us, but for those that do they get locked up for a few weeks, or sometimes the water hose. A squirt sends them running. Usually they outgrow it. If they don't, and nothing works, we cull.

 

[NatJ]

Any advice on correcting her aggression towards me? It’s focused on the coop front door when I open it. She won’t attack me inside the coop or in the yard.

Hello I have an almost 7 month old silkie pullet that’s been attacking my feet and hands whenever I go let the birds out. She bites hard. She will also charge me.

Can you wear boots, and keep your hands out of the way? Maybe also wear leather gloves when opening the door, if she gets you at that time. That would at least keep you safe, and would not hurt her.

I usually wear boots to keep my feet clean while tending chickens, which has the side effect of protecting my feet from chicken bites. I've had quite a lot of chickens that will eat bits of snow or grass clippings or anything else on my boots (what my chickens do is not aggression, but it would definitely hurt if I had bare feet. In boots, I don't feel it.)

Obviously you could "solve" this issue by getting rid of the chicken (rehome her or kill her.) I like to eat chicken, so that is my usual solution for the few that cause trouble.

If you want to keep this hen, and the issue is specifically at the door of the coop, is there a way to avoid the issue? That might mean opening the door before sunup so she is asleep. Does the coop have both a big door and a chicken-sized door? Maybe you could rig one of them to let you open it from a distance, so you can let her out without being within reach of her. Could you give her some treats inside the coop so she is distracted while you open the door? Maybe toss them in through a window or vent opening that is covered with hardware cloth, or rig a cup inside the coop that you dump with a string from outside (you would refill it when she is out, to have it ready the next time you need to open the door.)

Or you could try a spray bottle of water: have it ready when opening the coop, and squirt her when she attacks you or tries to attack you. (Similar to @Debbie292d using a hose on roosters, but a little more controlled.)