Alpha hen attacking almost 6mo Golden Comet while being mated by Rooster

[Ladygrey17]

Catalana (I think) Hen is at least 4 years old. Golden comet is coming up 6months. Swedish Flower rooster is roughly same age as golden comet. Main hen is pretty aggressive but has gotten better. She doesn’t like being mated but at the same time she does and she doesn’t want another hen to be mated or she’s taking a cheap shot while the other hens (or maybe still considered pullets? Idk I’m new) are being mated. She also was pulling on the back of rooster at another time while he was mating someone else. It’s as if she’s grabbing on to the hen that is being mated by their comb and then she just hangs on until she breaks up their party. Any insight please?

 

[azygous]

Yes, it's a "cheap shot" while the younger hen is incapacitated and vulnerable. It's pretty common behavior for chickens of both sexes.

I see this in my flock when I sit down to give out hugs and cuddles. When I'm holding a very low ranking chicken or pullet, other older ones will sidle up and look for an opening to nail her on the head.

Not much can be done for this as it's such pervasive behavior among chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've seen this behavior. A subordinate to the dominant chicken tries to mate a hen and the dominant chicken knocks them off. Mating is a dominance activity, it's not just about fertilizing eggs. The one on the bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, ether willingly or by force. Sounds like yours is willingly, which is good. But the dominant hen can't allow the subordinate cockerel to mate in front of her as that would diminish her authority so she knocks him off. Thanks for supplying their ages and sexes, that helps a lot in what is going in in your flock. The same type of thing can happen if the dominant chicken were a rooster or even a dominant cockerel. It is pretty standard behavior where they protect their dominance.

When you have a flock of all hens one hen will become the dominant flock leader. When a cockerel is growing up in that flock he gradually matures to the point that he wants to be flock leader. What happens next depends on the personalities of the chickens involved, the boy and the girls. Some hens (and especially pullets his age) might willingly submit to him or they may run away. Sometimes mature hens (especially the dominant hen) will fight him instead of submit or just run.

What I usually see is that some of the girls willingly submit and some run away until he matures enough that they all submit and he is flock master. This flock leadership transfer is often very peaceful. But if you get a cockerel that has a fairy weak personality where he has trouble winning the respect of the hens or you get a dominant hen that just does not want to give up her flock leadership position it can turn violent. The worst is when you get a combination of a weak cockerel and a really strong-willed hen. That was really violent for two days until he finally convinced her that he was the boss. There wasn't any blood, thank goodness, but it was pretty brutal.

I don't know how yours will play out. I've had a 5-month-old cockerel be able to dominate a flock of all mature hens and some pullets his age peacefully. The dominant hen was pretty mellow and he was extremely self-confident. Most of my boys can take over fairly peacefully at 7 months, but that time it got violent he was 11 months old before he worked up the nerve to challenge the dominant hen and she was not ready to give up her dominant position.

I don't see any red flags from what you posted, just a normal progression of events. He's behaving much as mine do at 6 months and your dominant hen doesn't sound that violent. Good luck.

 

[3KillerBs]

What I usually see is that some of the girls willingly submit and some run away until he matures enough that they all submit and he is flock master. This flock leadership transfer is often very peaceful. But if you get a cockerel that has a fairy weak personality where he has trouble winning the respect of the hens or you get a dominant hen that just does not want to give up her flock leadership position it can turn violent.

This was very reassuring information for me last year when my first flockmaster was maturing.

He was such a gentleman that I'd only ever seen him mating twice -- both times with the same hen, who was so dominant a personality that she wouldn't squat for me when I had no males.

The first time, when he was about 5 months, it was a hilarious episode of "hen surfing" -- she took off running as soon as he'd mounted and he rode her halfway around the pen before giving up. After which she chased him the rest of the way around the pen.

But not long after that, her eggs were showing the fertile bullseye.

The second time I actually saw them mate, nearly a year later, she was defying his authority by not going to roost when the boys had rounded up the flock that evening, so he reminded her that he was boss.

She was so much his favorite hen over time that when I sold him I sold her with him.

I've never seen a hen take shots at another hen being mated, but I did see the senior and junior flockmasters disciplining rowdy cockerels who were bothering the hens. And, oddly, the two of them supervising a particular cockerel as he mated a willing hen -- watching him but allowing it.

I don't see any red flags from what you posted, just a normal progression of events. He's behaving much as mine do at 6 months and your dominant hen doesn't sound that violent. Good luck.

And this is why I rambled on about my flock -- because with a little luck your cockerel will soon be fully in charge and keeping the peace.

 

[Shadrach]

I can't help thinking that the vocabulary we have adopted to describe chickens and their behaviour is unfortunate and at times misleading.
Possibly the most incredible adaptation chickens, or should I write mainly hens, have undertaken is to learn how to cope with the conditions humans keep them in.
The chickens ancestors (jungle fowl still do) lived in small family groups; tribes essentially. A single male and a single hen make up the tribe core. Their offspring eventually if they are lucky find a mate and make a new tribe. The successful tribes pass their genes forward.
Cockerels and roosters will mate with any hen that crouches for them. I believe the human expression is they sow their wild oats; if they can.
The hen on the other hand has an investment strategy. Provide a hen with a choice of males and she will pick the male she believes will provide the genes with the best chance of going foreward.
While a male might be able to force a hen to crouch for him; difficult in a natural setting, what he cant do is make the hen sit and hatch their offspring.
So, the male needs a consenting hen that chooses him to be the genetic doner for the next generation.

Lock up a group of hens and a single rooster in a confined space and the hens don't have a choice of rooster. Just because the keeper thinks so and so is a lovely rooster doesn't mean the hens will agree. There is a lesson for breeders in there.

So, what do the hens do in these unnatural circumstances? They establish their own order of who has the right to mate with the rooster. We rather simply call this the pecking order, but it has little to do with pecking and more to do with trying to ensure the best genes go forward.
In theory the hen that is the most senior has proven her good genes by getting to be older. Silly pullets running around tend not to live long either in the wild of in the free range tribes I've looked after.
It is, in the view of the senior hen her right to mate with the rooster and knowing the rooster will chase any little hussy of a hen that encourages his attentions, it's down to the senior hen to discourage the junior hens from mating. As you have seen, it's quite difficult for the rooster or hen to mate successfully if the senior or sometimes a hen intent on becoming more senior is pulling feathers out and generally making it very difficult for the rooster to get on target.
If you watch carefully you will see that when the senior hen interupts the procedings the junior hen lowers her tail feathers thus preventing the roosters sperm from even getting close to the vent.

 

[Ladygrey17]

Yes the dominant hen did not submit to him at first and it was brutal. A little blood drawn by her on his wattles but they are better now.

Yes, it's a "cheap shot" while the younger hen is incapacitated and vulnerable. It's pretty common behavior for chickens of both sexes.

I see this in my flock when I sit down to give out hugs and cuddles. When I'm holding a very low ranking chicken or pullet, other older ones will sidle up and look for an opening to nail her on the head.

Not much can be done for this as it's such pervasive behavior among chickens.

Okay thank you. I’m new to learning about chickens and their behavior. Thank you for taking the time to share.

 

[Ladygrey17]

I've seen this behavior. A subordinate to the dominant chicken tries to mate a hen and the dominant chicken knocks them off. Mating is a dominance activity, it's not just about fertilizing eggs. The one on the bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, ether willingly or by force. Sounds like yours is willingly, which is good. But the dominant hen can't allow the subordinate cockerel to mate in front of her as that would diminish her authority so she knocks him off. Thanks for supplying their ages and sexes, that helps a lot in what is going in in your flock. The same type of thing can happen if the dominant chicken were a rooster or even a dominant cockerel. It is pretty standard behavior where they protect their dominance.

When you have a flock of all hens one hen will become the dominant flock leader. When a cockerel is growing up in that flock he gradually matures to the point that he wants to be flock leader. What happens next depends on the personalities of the chickens involved, the boy and the girls. Some hens (and especially pullets his age) might willingly submit to him or they may run away. Sometimes mature hens (especially the dominant hen) will fight him instead of submit or just run.

What I usually see is that some of the girls willingly submit and some run away until he matures enough that they all submit and he is flock master. This flock leadership transfer is often very peaceful. But if you get a cockerel that has a fairy weak personality where he has trouble winning the respect of the hens or you get a dominant hen that just does not want to give up her flock leadership position it can turn violent. The worst is when you get a combination of a weak cockerel and a really strong-willed hen. That was really violent for two days until he finally convinced her that he was the boss. There wasn't any blood, thank goodness, but it was pretty brutal.

I don't know how yours will play out. I've had a 5-month-old cockerel be able to dominate a flock of all mature hens and some pullets his age peacefully. The dominant hen was pretty mellow and he was extremely self-confident. Most of my boys can take over fairly peacefully at 7 months, but that time it got violent he was 11 months old before he worked up the nerve to challenge the dominant hen and she was not ready to give up her dominant position.

I don't see any red flags from what you posted, just a normal progression of events. He's behaving much as mine do at 6 months and your dominant hen doesn't sound that violent. Good luck.

Thank you very much for sharing your advice! Yes he seems to be a good rooster so far and I hope he stays that way! I’m new to chickens so I’m always learning.
Yes he and the dominant hen have had it out. Little blood on his wattles but that healed overnight thankfully. She is a strong willed hen. It’s hard also not to put “human emotions” on their behavior. But still learning what’s going on.
He really favors the dominant hen now. Once he’s out in the morning he goes looking for her. She doesn’t seem as crazy about him but again she doesn’t want him to mate the others either.
The golden comets are more mature than our two cinnamon queens so the cinnamons are a little more flighty but are squatting more often now for him and me.
Thank you again for sharing.

 

[Ladygrey17]

This was very reassuring information for me last year when my first flockmaster was maturing.

He was such a gentleman that I'd only ever seen him mating twice -- both times with the same hen, who was so dominant a personality that she wouldn't squat for me when I had no males.

The first time, when he was about 5 months, it was a hilarious episode of "hen surfing" -- she took off running as soon as he'd mounted and he rode her halfway around the pen before giving up. After which she chased him the rest of the way around the pen.

But not long after that, her eggs were showing the fertile bullseye.

The second time I actually saw them mate, nearly a year later, she was defying his authority by not going to roost when the boys had rounded up the flock that evening, so he reminded her that he was boss.

She was so much his favorite hen over time that when I sold him I sold her with him.

I've never seen a hen take shots at another hen being mated, but I did see the senior and junior flockmasters disciplining rowdy cockerels who were bothering the hens. And, oddly, the two of them supervising a particular cockerel as he mated a willing hen -- watching him but allowing it.



And this is why I rambled on about my flock -- because with a little luck your cockerel will soon be fully in charge and keeping the peace.

Thank you. I am ready for him to keep the peace! Lol. I’ve been telling him to get between the ladies when they fight it out.
But again I’m new to understanding chicken behavior so I try to stay out of it until it seems bad. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Ladygrey17]

I can't help thinking that the vocabulary we have adopted to describe chickens and their behaviour is unfortunate and at times misleading.
Possibly the most incredible adaptation chickens, or should I write mainly hens, have undertaken is to learn how to cope with the conditions humans keep them in.
The chickens ancestors (jungle fowl still do) lived in small family groups; tribes essentially. A single male and a single hen make up the tribe core. Their offspring eventually if they are lucky find a mate and make a new tribe. The successful tribes pass their genes forward.
Cockerels and roosters will mate with any hen that crouches for them. I believe the human expression is they sow their wild oats; if they can.
The hen on the other hand has an investment strategy. Provide a hen with a choice of males and she will pick the male she believes will provide the genes with the best chance of going foreward.
While a male might be able to force a hen to crouch for him; difficult in a natural setting, what he cant do is make the hen sit and hatch their offspring.
So, the male needs a consenting hen that chooses him to be the genetic doner for the next generation.

Lock up a group of hens and a single rooster in a confined space and the hens don't have a choice of rooster. Just because the keeper thinks so and so is a lovely rooster doesn't mean the hens will agree. There is a lesson for breeders in there.

So, what do the hens do in these unnatural circumstances? They establish their own order of who has the right to mate with the rooster. We rather simply call this the pecking order, but it has little to do with pecking and more to do with trying to ensure the best genes go forward.
In theory the hen that is the most senior has proven her good genes by getting to be older. Silly pullets running around tend not to live long either in the wild of in the free range tribes I've looked after.
It is, in the view of the senior hen her right to mate with the rooster and knowing the rooster will chase any little hussy of a hen that encourages his attentions, it's down to the senior hen to discourage the junior hens from mating. As you have seen, it's quite difficult for the rooster or hen to mate successfully if the senior or sometimes a hen intent on becoming more senior is pulling feathers out and generally making it very difficult for the rooster to get on target.
If you watch carefully you will see that when the senior hen interupts the procedings the junior hen lowers her tail feathers thus preventing the roosters sperm from even getting close to the vent.

Thank you for your information. This makes sense. We are also hoping to expand the run because we know the more confined any animal is, and with others, the more friction.
It’s hard to remove my human emotions from the animals. Humans tend to get in the way. I will keep an eye and let them be chickens.
Thank you again for taking the time to share!

 

[Tamayeager]

I can't help thinking that the vocabulary we have adopted to describe chickens and their behaviour is unfortunate and at times misleading.
Possibly the most incredible adaptation chickens, or should I write mainly hens, have undertaken is to learn how to cope with the conditions humans keep them in.
The chickens ancestors (jungle fowl still do) lived in small family groups; tribes essentially. A single male and a single hen make up the tribe core. Their offspring eventually if they are lucky find a mate and make a new tribe. The successful tribes pass their genes forward.
Cockerels and roosters will mate with any hen that crouches for them. I believe the human expression is they sow their wild oats; if they can.
The hen on the other hand has an investment strategy. Provide a hen with a choice of males and she will pick the male she believes will provide the genes with the best chance of going foreward.
While a male might be able to force a hen to crouch for him; difficult in a natural setting, what he cant do is make the hen sit and hatch their offspring.
So, the male needs a consenting hen that chooses him to be the genetic doner for the next generation.

Lock up a group of hens and a single rooster in a confined space and the hens don't have a choice of rooster. Just because the keeper thinks so and so is a lovely rooster doesn't mean the hens will agree. There is a lesson for breeders in there.

So, what do the hens do in these unnatural circumstances? They establish their own order of who has the right to mate with the rooster. We rather simply call this the pecking order, but it has little to do with pecking and more to do with trying to ensure the best genes go forward.
In theory the hen that is the most senior has proven her good genes by getting to be older. Silly pullets running around tend not to live long either in the wild of in the free range tribes I've looked after.
It is, in the view of the senior hen her right to mate with the rooster and knowing the rooster will chase any little hussy of a hen that encourages his attentions, it's down to the senior hen to discourage the junior hens from mating. As you have seen, it's quite difficult for the rooster or hen to mate successfully if the senior or sometimes a hen intent on becoming more senior is pulling feathers out and generally making it very difficult for the rooster to get on target.
If you watch carefully you will see that when the senior hen interupts the procedings the junior hen lowers her tail feathers thus preventing the roosters sperm from even getting close to the vent.

Brilliant description! Bravo!