I have a very large Easter Egger hen (Not sure if she is normal size or not. I only have two, and she is about an inch taller than the other one) and I have Bantams. 2 Easter Egger hens, and 3 Bantam hens. The very one Easter Egger (Tilly) will go up inside the coop (I have to shut the door every day now) and peck the little Broody Silkie and make her get up off her nest and sometimes run out of the coop. Why does she do this? I think the hen has a nest by the Silkie, and the Silkie may have one or two EE eggs up under her. But the Silkie was there first, and I think she is in the two week stage of broody. Also, another question: Why doesn't my Broody Silkie get mad or puff up like my Cochin Bantam hen did? My Cochin never pecked me, but would peck other chickens. My Silkie just lets other hens run over here, and she doesn't protect like shes suppose to.
it's all part of the pecking order and if you can relocate a broody with their eggs, they do much better.
Welcome to chicken pecking order. It is usually recommended that when a broody is setting eggs you move her to a separate area before you allow them to begin setting. This is one of the reasons. The Silkie is probably just being very protective of her eggs. My mama who just hatched some eggs did most of her setting in the regular coop (my bad, but it worked out.) My chickens didn't bother her that I ever saw; she had no sign of being pecked. I think when a setting hen is pecked it's probably an instinct to get rid of other chickens' babies, so theirs will survive instead. I didn't say it made sense.... They really are individuals. And they are hard to move while they're setting. I tried and she abandoned the eggs; I then put her back where she'd been and she stayed and hatched the eggs. I actually moved her into my broody pen WHILE the eggs were hatching.
I'd relocate the EE before I'd relocate the Silkies. I love the Silkies, they are so nice and friendly. And my EE tends to peck the little babies (About a month+ old). Is she just trying to be dominant, or just being a total jerk? Because I hold her up to my Chochin Bantam hen (mother of the babies), and let her get free pecks on the EE. This helps me change the pecking order so the smaller chickens can actually defend themselves. The Cochin will actually peck the EEs when they go around her babies.
Quote:I do shut the smaller coop within the coop door so she can have some privacy. And Tilly never pecked the Cochin Bantam while she was broody, so why does she do it to the Silkie?
I would move the nest. As to why she is doing this .....chickens are kinda "neurotic". That's one reason why I like em so much. Silly chickens.
