flared neck feathers

[rubbertoe9999]

hello, thanks again for all you nice chickeneers for welcoming me into this great website so , i have another question......my 15 yr old hen flares her feathers out when fighting over rice or leftovers when i take them a snack is that normal for a female or am i mistaken? my friend Alec has 33 hens and 8 roosters and he said that he has seen several of his hens spar with eachother over food water and sometimes nest boxes im confused so can this be true? and normal? mine is a red star and his are all black stars

 

[rubbertoe9999]

sorry i meant 15 month old he he he

 

[rubbertoe9999]

OMG! again sorry i meant 15 week old i dont know what up with my head today

 

[centrarchid]

Flaring / raising hackles.


Both sexes do it. Under normal conditions it is probably informative. The birds in better physical condition would have a fuller, more vibrant display. Some of the color in the hackles are possibly beyond our ability to detect. Your birds as juveniles within a flock are just as likely to be using in play as a mechanism to determine social rank. Sometimes the play can lead to rank changes but even then such is a form of play.

The real fights occur in adults.

 

[rubbertoe9999]

awesome that helps i already had to give one of me MACHO hens away because it turned ROO ;( i hope this is just a lead hen

 

[centrarchid]

by 15 weeks you should be able determine sex by feathering and / or voice.

 

[rubbertoe9999]

how so ? im still learning could you explain

 

[centrarchid]

how so ? im still learning could you explain

To start post pictures birds in question.

 

[rubbertoe9999]

 

[centrarchid]

Look closely at its hackle feathers. Compare those to bird behind fore ground bird. One will have longer more pointed hackle feathers while other will have shorter more rounded. The pointy feathered bird will also have a deeper voice.