Battling hens!

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Cryss

Eggcentric
6 Years
Nov 12, 2017
5,010
12,365
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Northwest New Jersey
I took out some kitchen veggie scraps to find Fraggle and Henneth with neck feathers flaring and beating wings on each other. Fraggle, a good sized Barred Rock, seemed to be winning as it continued and Fraggle got a mouthful of Henneths, a partridge colored Easter Egger, feathers. Neither seems bloody or injured. Henneth tried to retaliate but not very successfully. Oddly, yesterday Fraggle was doing something I thought was cute and kinda "Derpy". She was running circles around the entire outside of the coop, then zip down the length of the runs back fence, then around the coop, same routine, only changed occasionally by running inside the coop, run up the ramp to the nesting/sleeping area, jump out the clean out door, do it again, then back to "goin' round the coop" over and over, squawking and complaining the whole time. Today she's fighting Henneth and won't let her eat feed or the veggies. She actually walked up to me squawking as if to complain to me. Molting is going on so I'm not sure if the bald head on Fraggle is molt or from Roopecca being amorous. Do I dare let them roost together tonight?
 
LOL Let them work it out, as long as no one is getting hurt.
Yes, if they were mine, I would let them roost together. Typical pecking order drama:)

Fraggle is your head hen, she's dictating who is getting the goodies. Your cockerel won't probably interfere unless the the battle lasts for a while. Once he matures, he will referee better.

When you bring out goodies, you may want to split them up and put out more than 1 bowl. A top hen usually can't control more than one bowl;)
 
Fraggle is the youngest of the flock at 34 weeks. Henneth is 41 weeks. The oldest, BOs, turned 1yr on Oct 1. I've never seen pecking order activity since the short event when new gals were first allowed to join the flock. I've never been able to discern who is top hen. Would this not have been established until now?
 
My money is on the Barred Rock (Fraggle?) as being your top girl. Age has nothing to do with being top of the pecking order, I've found it's attitude.

The pecking order is ever so slightly changing. Sometimes it may be hard to determine who is top, especially if you have 2 very bold hens, but if you watch them closely, you should be able to figure it out.
In the video, your BR is clearly your head hen at the moment. Your EE was probably challenging her.
I don't interfere with this, it's just the way it is. As long as no is being cornered and beaten up, let it play out, if you step in, then you are just delaying what's coming.
 
Well I guess I know now who is top hen! Fraggle is smaller than her Barred Rock sister, Petra so I'm a bit surprised. I wasn't planning to interfere unless I see blood. I just don't want to wake up to blood.
Live and learn. A year into this adventure I'm still learning tons! Thanks!
Size and age doesn't really seem to matter when you're talking pecking order.
Chickens are always full of surprises, that's why we love Chicken TV so much:)
 

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