Am I in the Pecking Order?

[mommabice]

The two most dominate girls (who are 5 weeks old today) are jumping at me like they do the other girls. I take them outside and they jump at each other and then try to jump and peck at me. What gives? I didn't think I was in the pecking order.

 

[kipper]

Teenagers....always seeing what they can get away with. I think this is just a phase, you are the top hen.

 

[mommabice]

Good. I have to be "top hen" with someone...my one year old son certainly does not think I am. lol.

 

[PtldChick]

you are in the pecking order, so better make sure they know you are top hen...

 

[rendezvous1838]

How exactly do you prove it to them?

 

[Daisy8s]

Originally Posted by rendezvous1838

There are different schools of thought on this. While some people feel you are a part of the pecking order and you must use violence to establish this...I have found this means constantly re-establishing your dominance in an endless cycle of aggression. Instead, I do not see myself as part of the pecking order. I'm there for food, water, and shelter...not to be a chicken.

When my rooster hit adolescence he did some testing pecks. Luckily this was in winter and I withstood his pecks on my gloves and boots without any reaction whatsoever. It became as boring to him as pecking a wall. For about two weeks he'd do 30 sec to 1 min of testing pecks each morning, but then that phase ended and he's never done it again. And, even during this phase he never became truly aggressive since I never "upped" the game by hitting or kicking him.

I consciously treat my chickens very differently than I would my dogs. While I teach a new puppy not to nip immediately when it begins to happen, I understand that chickens are poultry, not mammals, and operate on a different system.