Help! Hen harrassing my laying hens.

[royturkcross]

I am needing advice about my hens behavior.
I have 3 hens that have been together since I got them and I have never had any problems with them.
The toms are all moved out now and in their own pen.

I have a hen that just hatched out 11 poults and another hen sitting on her nest. The third hen, however, has laid about 6 eggs so far (one egg every other day) and so is not ready to sit yet. About 2 weeks before my hen hatched her poults this third hen has become very strange acting. She started out strutting (just like a tom), her snood even was a touch longer than normal. I ignored her and other than that everything was okay. That was until the day the poults were born and then her and the mother hen starting fighting each other and of course they almost smashed the poults. I took the third hen out and seperated her into a seperate pen.

Well then last week I tried to let her back into the laying house and she went straight to the laying hen (the second hen) and laid on her while biting her. I again removed the third hen and put her back into a pen by her self. I know she is unhappy by herself but I'm not sure what to do with her. I have about 8 fertilized eggs all together but don't know if I can give her them and then maybe she will calm down and be able to go back into the laying house.

I am new to turkey/poultry (but am really liking them a lot) and so any advice would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks for reading

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

You might try seperating her for a few days, then return her after dark. They do have a natural pecking order and may just be trying to reestablish the pecking order. You might also return a Tom to the pen.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

deleted

 

[royturkcross]

Thank you! Thank you! for the couple of people that have answered me back.
Last night I put my eggs into the my barn and then let the #3 hen in again. This time she scuffled a little bit with the other 2 hens but nothing like before. This time is was to re-establish the pecking order. She then went over to the eggs and sat above them all night. Then this morning she actually checked out the eggs and seems to be leaving the hen & poults and the laying hen alone. So thank you again. Now everything is peaceful again at my farm!!!