Alpha hen being a B#@%!!!

Here are my girls. It's the cuckoo
maran that thinks she is the boss of the world. They are all around 14-16 weeks. View attachment 1439211
At first all the other girls would go back in the coop but I always had to catch her. Now they all follow whatever she does wich now means chasing chickens every evening before we can go to bed. Last night when I tried to round them up she was aggressive and flying at me
Cute Pullets. Just in case you don't know, female chickens under the age of 1yr old is a pullet.
I pulled a photo from one of your other posts - this is your coop and run correct?
How much space is the coop portion (sq. ft.)? What is your weather like - a general location is helpful (state/country).

Chickens are creatures of habit, you will have to be patient and round them up at night, they will eventually learn where the need to be. Mine go in when it's quite dark, but with youngsters they can get a bit of a stubborn streak and decide they want to roost outside of the safety of their coop. Yes, the others will follow the leader, so you will need to work with her. Put her in the coop first, the others will go. You mentioned they used to go in by themselves, but have stopped. If the coop is hot and ventilation is poor, then birds are less likely to go in too - those are things to consider.


I have never had a hen, much less a pullet be aggressive toward a human, so that's a new one to me. If she is aggressive, a time out is not going to work- you are only separating her from her flock-she's not aggressive to them correct? Give her a swift peck to the head with your finger to correct unwanted behavior.


img_20180616_212526-jpg.1433728
 
Cute Pullets. Just in case you don't know, female chickens under the age of 1yr old is a pullet.
I pulled a photo from one of your other posts - this is your coop and run correct?
How much space is the coop portion (sq. ft.)? What is your weather like - a general location is helpful (state/country).

Chickens are creatures of habit, you will have to be patient and round them up at night, they will eventually learn where the need to be. Mine go in when it's quite dark, but with youngsters they can get a bit of a stubborn streak and decide they want to roost outside of the safety of their coop. Yes, the others will follow the leader, so you will need to work with her. Put her in the coop first, the others will go. You mentioned they used to go in by themselves, but have stopped. If the coop is hot and ventilation is poor, then birds are less likely to go in too - those are things to consider.


I have never had a hen, much less a pullet be aggressive toward a human, so that's a new one to me. If she is aggressive, a time out is not going to work- you are only separating her from her flock-she's not aggressive to them correct? Give her a swift peck to the head with your finger to correct unwanted behavior.


img_20180616_212526-jpg.1433728
Good advice here^^^^


I just put them in around 9 or 930 when I have to go to bed. They are out from 7am-930 at night but they have to go in when I go to bed because we have so many predators.
You'll just have to stay up a bit later....can be hard at the peak of long days. Day length will start decreasing now we have just passed summer solstice.
 
Omg guys. The cheese did the job. Wow..They really went crazy for some cheese!!! But to answer your question the run is 9X4, is in the shade all day and has a fan. There are windows on the side and the top vents. They actually go in there in the hottest part of the day. It does get hot here in oklahoma. She flew at me again this morning when I shooed her away from an area in the garden!!! So I caught her little butt and held her upside down for a minute in front of the other girls. I swear she was totally embarrassed .
 
You know what else is weird. After dusk the other girls can barely find the door. I think they can't see it very well because that area is so dark but she seems to see fine. I noticed her last night when the other girls were in after getting their cheese on-she was on the patio getting June bugs!!! A little more cheese and she went right in.
 
the run is 9X4
She flew at me again this morning when I shooed her away from an area in the garden!!! So I caught her little butt and held her upside down for a minute in front of the other girls. I swear she was totally embarrassed .
Is 9X4 the total area of the whole housing or just the run portion- how big is the coop part (closed wood part)?

She sounds like a pistol - can you get a video of her in the act of aggression? It would be interesting to observe a pullet like that.
 
Yeah. 9x4 and the coop part is 4 x4ish. She is actually really sweet unless I'm trying to make her do something she doesn't want to do. I think she is too smart. I will video when she does it again. Hopefully our little episode this morning taught her that I'm the HBIC!!!
 
Omg guys. The cheese did the job. Wow..They really went crazy for some cheese!!! But to answer your question the run is 9X4, is in the shade all day and has a fan. There are windows on the side and the top vents. They actually go in there in the hottest part of the day. It does get hot here in oklahoma. She flew at me again this morning when I shooed her away from an area in the garden!!! So I caught her little butt and held her upside down for a minute in front of the other girls. I swear she was totally embarrassed .
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom