Good Hen gone Bad?

[audrey02026]

Ok So one of my 7 19 week old Hens has been trying to peck me verytime I get close enough. She is one of the first to run over to me when I get home but if I even look like I might be trying to touch her she pecks at me. The other day I went into the hen house and picked up a container that I had put i there with treats the night before and she got my hand. Didn't break the skin or even really hurt. Was wondering if this is normal behavior she is a RIR by the way. None of my others do this and I don't handle much at all. When I need them to be somewhere other than where they are I just call them and they follow me. I have only had to pick them up a handful of times one of which was the day before all this started. I got a new coop for them and needed to put them inside so they would know that it was there new home. Are some hens just mean or is she mad at me?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Is there any chance she is a he?

If not then perhaps she has simply established herself as the boss hen and she's letting you know that! There is such thing as cranky hens although I"ve never had one that was aggressive towards me.

 

[jackietheturkeylover]

She could be going through puberty
or she could want a nesting box to lay
or she could be hungry.
Or perhaps she just wants attention

My turkey, he would peck my mother, but she didn't understand she hardly went anywhere
near him. But after she started petting him he stopped.

My other turkey would peck me when he's tired or hungry.

My hen chicken will go crazy when she wants a private place to lay

could be anyone of those.

If you have more questions send me a PM I don't respond to threads

Hope I helped,
Jackie-

 

[audrey02026]

Hi cafarmgirl, I seriously doubt she is a he. I have two and they are identical, No crowing I did have another from that batch of chicks that turned out to be a rooster and he started crowing at like weeks. I do think that she may be the leader of the flock. I gave them 8 nestboxes and fixed them up all nice for them although they keep making a mess...So either she thinks she protecting the flock or it is a puberty thing. I will say when she got me is want hard at all can chcikens bite hard? Thinking she wasn't trying to hurt me but maybe warn me away or something...

 

[rungirl]

RIR can be kind of nasty, or so I've heard.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Sometimes if you feed treats by hand or if the smart bird figures out that treats are thrown from hands, then you can get one that will peck at your hands just to see what might be there. I have a friendlier bird from this year's crew that loves to come up to me and peck at my jeans. She will just follow me around and wait to be petted. I had a chicken sitter once that decided it would be fun to feed them treats out of her hand; boy was that obnoxious to deal with when I came home. I had chickens going for my hands constantly and they would jump up and go for my hands. I feed treats from a plate or a can now and I can still count to ten!

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
Yes, they can peck the bejebbers out of you if they are truly mad and out to get you!

They peck nice little holes in you that turn blue! If it didn't leave a mark then she wasn't out to hurt you.

I also agree that she may have remembered the treat container and pecked because she thought there was going to be more treats! Mine get excited and do that too when I have goodies.

 

[Pele]

I would say it's one of two things. If she is the lead hen in your flock, she views you as a subordinate flock member, and is trying to put you into your place. This is extremely common behavior when it comes to roosts, and the dominant hen giving others warning pecks when they encroach on her space too much. You can curb this behavior by making a beak with your fingers, and pecking her right back.

If she's not a very dominant hen, I would say that she's been trained to take treats from your hand, and is pecking just in case there's an invisible treat there

 

[audrey02026]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I feel better knowing that she wasn't out to hurt me. Like I said before she always runs to me when she sees me...of course I'm sure it's because she wants treats. If it happens again I'll try the peck her back idea.

Thank you again....everyone here is always so helpful.

 

[sourland]

If the 'pecking back' does not work, gently grab her neck and head in one hand, place the other hand on her back in the area of her wings and force her to the ground. Hold her until she stops struggling, wait about thirty seconds and then release her. Let her know that you are the Boss Rooster.