Does this mean she's the boss?

[Cocotte]

I've got four chickens -- first I got two 6 week old ameraucanas (they're more like 7-8 weeks now), and then a few days later two four month old bantam cochins. They have all been getting along just fine, no pecking or squabbling or anything. In fact, the two little ameraucanas like to snuggle and burrow underneath the cochins, and the cochins will just sit there sandwiching the ameraucanas like they're all playing house or something.

One of the cochins is always the first to do things -- she walks out of the coop door first every morning, comes over to me when I offer treats first, figured out how to go up the ramp to the coop today and then called to the others that she found food (I stuck the food up there to help encourage them to figure out how to go up), and she's the only one so far to use the dust bath I made them. Is she just the smart one, or is she the boss?

 

[t4dbirds]

Good question, Poppy, a bantam Cochin, is the same. She does everything first and then the fizzle, my frizzled bantam Cochin gets up the nerve to try. Only problem is that Poppy is so quick it's hard for frizzle to get any treats! But if I want frizzle to do anything I get poppy to do it first.

 

[theBrewMeister]

I have read that the Pecking Order is established by courage. The braver the bird the higher up the ladder she goes. So, I think it's safe to say that those birds you're both describing are your alpha hens. If you watch them long enough you'll see other birds avoiding confrontation with them. It's really quite entertaining!