Are my HENS trying to mate? PIC

[ZaneyMama]

I have 9 hens who just turned a year old. One barred Rock has started pinning another to the ground and pecking her head so hard she has pulled out half the feathers and made her bloody a few times.

Today, I witnessed a RIR HEN doing this:

What in the heck are my chickens doing? All of them came over and started pecking the bottom one's head in the 30 seconds this happened.

Thanks in advance.

 

[piccolini]

This is a dominance thing- part of the pecking order. My hens (And dogs) do this too

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

I'm pretty sure she's just showing who's the boss. Even though it looks pretty racy...

 

[seminolewind]

I've seen it too. It's annoying!

 

[Judy]

If you don't have a roo, sometimes a hen will sort of take over the role, acting like she's mating, which is what that looks like. Often they will also "crow," only they can't crow, so it is a weird, weird sound. I had one who did this until my roo matured, then she went back to acting like the rest of the hens. I've read that a hen who does this may also stop laying. I never knew whether mine was laying or not.

If it gets to be too much abuse on your hens, just isolate her for several days, then put her back with the flock, and she will then be at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[gsim]

I would not put up with it. That is bullying and if allowed to continue, that poor hen will be killed. Once there is blood drawn, all of the others will peck at her. Definitely segregate the bully. I have a crippled hen and she is just one of the girls in my flock. I have on three occasions slapped a bully off of the roost who was packing her as she just cowered down. Each time, I turned off the lights of the coop so as to force the bully to spend the night on the floor. It seemed to stop it because after that 3rd time with the same bully, it never happened again. I never see any bullying out in their run either. I do see an occasional squabble over a treat that both parties try to get at the same time. That is normal. Overall I have a happy and productive and congenial flock. It could just be beginners luck too.


Gerry

 

[Morgan7782]

I have one hen who does that also! I actually just posted about it thinking I had a confused girl LOL. It is dominance, as others have stated. I usually go chase my "bully" off the subordinent (spelling?) hens. I iusually give her a swat on the butt lol, or I will pick her up and carry her around the yard for a while. She is a Barred Rock and literally mounts my Black Australorp and Black Copper Maran.

There has been no blood on my end yet, and if there is blood I would seperate. BUT if there is no blood and you seperate it could make the problem worse, they do have to work out the pecking order by themselves at some point. But if it is a dangerous situation then I would definately isolate the bully.

I had another hen who was REALLY mean to the others, she went to a new home with a crapload of roosters.

I won't deal with the CONSTANT aggresion, even if it is a hen. My Barred Rock's dominance flares occasionally, but the Wyandotte I rehomed, it was a constant battle lol.

 

[journey11]

Asserting dominance. I've seen one of my girls do that too after we got rid of the rooster.

 

[Lisa202]

I would think that if a hen does that, then you might as well have a roo and get fertile eggs...no? It seems to me that, roo or no roo, you'll have a very dominant chicken that is capable of bullying the others? I didn't want to have a roo (one of my girls turned into one

) but I think I would rather have him then one of the girls doing this.