Hi all,
I'm fairly new to this chicken-business - have been keeping them since about last May.
Anyway, we currently have four hens - two came to us in February (Jester and Jemima), and two more pullets joined us three weeks ago.
Jester is very much top hen - top of the pecking order, a huge great big fat girl, and Oxford Blue. She had a broody season in May even though she was only six months old, but we managed to break it after about two weeks of shutting her out of the coop and the nest. Jester is also a total foghorn with lots of alarm calls. She finished her broody period about two weeks before the new girls arrived, although I had a run of broody poos again the other day and had to get her out of bed in the morning.
She's being a bit mean to the new girls though. They met visually first but then had a few nights together... while the new girls stayed in the coop during the day and J&J had the garden. After a few days of this they all had free range in the garden during the day, but then the new girls decided to sleep elsewhere.
This last week all four of them have been sleeping together again which is great.
So that's the background.
What I'm wondering about is the extent to which Jester's current behaviour is normal chicken behaviour and how much I should try to modify it. I have two worries:
1. Sometimes she chases the new girls in the garden for no reason. They are definitely nervous of her and they trot past her very quickly. It's not just about food - sometimes it seems pure spite!
2. Bedtimes are a little stressful: Jemima puts herself to bed nicely. The the new girls clearly look like they want to go to bed but Jester patrols the coop and seems reluctant to let them in. I've got around this by opening several doors into the coop so she can't actually stop them, but they're still definitely nervous of her even though they know where bed is. They are managing it finally but it's all getting a bit too dark for my liking before they actually all go in. Jester definitely wants to be last into bed (is this part of being Top Hen?), but she's also contradicting herself by not really wanting the new girls to go to bed. Once they're all in bed and I shut them in, they seem fine, and she doesn't seem to bully them too much overnight.
Any thoughts? Especially re: the bedtime behaviour? Should I intervene or trust that it'll sort itself out?
PS Jemima is a white leghorn and the new girls (Penelope and Agnes) are Cheshire Brown and a Cheshire Blue. The Cheshire blue I'm told is an arucauna / leghorn cross and I'm not sure about the cheshire brown - definitely got a bit of a leghorn look about her and I'm told she will lay green eggs, - she has a bit of a look of a typical red hen but with some black feathers in her tail - almost has a pheasant look about her. They both have tufty feathers on their heads; Penelope, the Cheshire Brown, looks a bit like Ziggy Stardust). I am in Oxfordshire in the UK.
I'm fairly new to this chicken-business - have been keeping them since about last May.
Anyway, we currently have four hens - two came to us in February (Jester and Jemima), and two more pullets joined us three weeks ago.
Jester is very much top hen - top of the pecking order, a huge great big fat girl, and Oxford Blue. She had a broody season in May even though she was only six months old, but we managed to break it after about two weeks of shutting her out of the coop and the nest. Jester is also a total foghorn with lots of alarm calls. She finished her broody period about two weeks before the new girls arrived, although I had a run of broody poos again the other day and had to get her out of bed in the morning.
She's being a bit mean to the new girls though. They met visually first but then had a few nights together... while the new girls stayed in the coop during the day and J&J had the garden. After a few days of this they all had free range in the garden during the day, but then the new girls decided to sleep elsewhere.
This last week all four of them have been sleeping together again which is great.
So that's the background.
What I'm wondering about is the extent to which Jester's current behaviour is normal chicken behaviour and how much I should try to modify it. I have two worries:
1. Sometimes she chases the new girls in the garden for no reason. They are definitely nervous of her and they trot past her very quickly. It's not just about food - sometimes it seems pure spite!
2. Bedtimes are a little stressful: Jemima puts herself to bed nicely. The the new girls clearly look like they want to go to bed but Jester patrols the coop and seems reluctant to let them in. I've got around this by opening several doors into the coop so she can't actually stop them, but they're still definitely nervous of her even though they know where bed is. They are managing it finally but it's all getting a bit too dark for my liking before they actually all go in. Jester definitely wants to be last into bed (is this part of being Top Hen?), but she's also contradicting herself by not really wanting the new girls to go to bed. Once they're all in bed and I shut them in, they seem fine, and she doesn't seem to bully them too much overnight.
Any thoughts? Especially re: the bedtime behaviour? Should I intervene or trust that it'll sort itself out?
PS Jemima is a white leghorn and the new girls (Penelope and Agnes) are Cheshire Brown and a Cheshire Blue. The Cheshire blue I'm told is an arucauna / leghorn cross and I'm not sure about the cheshire brown - definitely got a bit of a leghorn look about her and I'm told she will lay green eggs, - she has a bit of a look of a typical red hen but with some black feathers in her tail - almost has a pheasant look about her. They both have tufty feathers on their heads; Penelope, the Cheshire Brown, looks a bit like Ziggy Stardust). I am in Oxfordshire in the UK.