Aggressive

[whiskeyhollowfarm]

This is going to be a bit hard to explain in a text format so please bear with me. Last night out of the blue one of my hens became extremely aggressive toward one of my other hens. The hen being bullied was making a long squawk and suddenly the other hen just jumped on her back and biting the back of her neck. These girls were ra8sed together since they were day Olds. Anyone ever had a similar experience?

 

[LaFleche]

This is going to be a bit hard to explain in a text format so please bear with me. Last night out of the blue one of my hens became extremely aggressive toward one of my other hens. The hen being bullied was making a long squawk and suddenly the other hen just jumped on her back and biting the back of her neck. These girls were ra8sed together since they were day Olds. Anyone ever had a similar experience?

Is one of them getting broody? Or both maybe?

Do you have a rooster?

 

[whiskeyhollowfarm]

Is one of them getting broody? Or both maybe?

I doubt it. They are only approximately 19 weeks old. None of them have begun laying yet

 

[21hens-incharge]

Pics please.

At 19 weeks a roo will be pretty clear as will pullets approaching point of lay.

 

[azygous]

This is normal chicken behavior. It's called "The Pecking Order".

Each chicken in a flock has a rank from "The Boss" to the "Lowest Chicken". Everyone else is ranked somewhere between the two. But this social system is fluid, always subject to changes. When one individual decides to get a little ambitious, she challenges the hen for the rank above her. This is most often so subtle we aren't even aware that any negotiation has even taken place or that today a chicken with a low rank yesterday now has a higher rank today.

Once in a while, a "negotiation" turns aggressive when neither chicken is happy with her rank. Then a fight ensues. The fight can last a second or drag out to a minute with some feather loss and perhaps a bloodied comb and wattles.

Rarely, though, you might see a hen decide she wants to physically dominate another hen, rooster style. That may involve a surge of androgen hormones in the aggressive hen, and then for a while you may see her behave as a rooster, standing on the back of the subjugated hen and maybe even going through mating motions. This may be temporary or an injury to the ovary may have resulted in this change of behavior. In that case, the hen will not lay eggs any longer and will continue to be aggressive.

I just noticed @21hens-incharge just pointed out the simplest most obvious explanation - the aggressive pullet may be in fact a cockerel. So, now that you have all the reasons behind such behavior, you can select what fits.

 

[whiskeyhollowfarm]

Pics please.

At 19 weeks a roo will be pretty clear as will pullets approaching point of lay.

 

[LaFleche]

Rhode Island Red pullet ( hatchery).

 

[whiskeyhollowfarm]

Rhode Island Red pullet ( hatchery).

Yes she's the one that got aggressive

 

[LaFleche]

Yes she's the one that got aggressive

RIR have a reputation to be quite aggressive and with surging hormones now coming into lay they can turn quite mean.

How many hens do you have and what breeds?

 

[whiskeyhollowfarm]

RIR have a reputation to be quite aggressive and with surging hormones now coming into lay they can turn quite mean.

How many hens do you have and what breeds?

We have 7 total. 3 mystic onyx 2 RIR and 2 lavender orpingtons