Hen behaving as if she is a Rooster

[thethreadedgarden]

I have 6 bantam hens that are 1 year old and just recently 5 of the 6 went broody. I could not snap them out of it so I gave in and got fertilized bantam eggs at a local nursery. Now we have 6 new baby chicks with 4 mother hens and 1 broody hen left sitting on 5 eggs. When I picked up the eggs I couldn't resist the new baby chicks and brought 6 home. I know I over did it but I think I could handle it but, one of my hens (who has never gone broody and is at the top of the pecking order) is constantly jumping on the other hens and mounting them like a Rooster. She stopped laying eggs and most of the hens are now afraid of her. My husband and I wonder if she is going to start to crow soon. Is this her way of rebelling against all the new chicks or is this her way to ensure that she remains at the top of the pecking order and just wants all the birds to know she is the BOSS. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

[chickenbottom]

didnt get to tell you on your first post lol well shes just at the top of the pecking order shes not mating just taking the roosters responcibilities and she may start to crow because they sometimes do good luck

 

[MikeJanet]

Hey I'd love to know if having a rooster will coorect this behavior?

I have one dominate hen that has taken on the rooster role since we packaged all our roo's - I'm not a big fan of Roo's (sorry everyone), but I do have 4 young roo's coming up maybe I should consider keeping one to put her in her place - although I'm not sure which scares my other hens more the Rooster or the Hen??

 

[chickenbottom]

I'm pretty sure a rooster will correct the problem because he will be taking the lead and mating with the head female.

 

[MikeJanet]

Thanks - now I just have to figure out what to do....

 

[norcal]

Quote:
Interesting! I have to say, that a couple of my hens make some WEIRD noises.

 

[chickentracy]

Haha! Yes, I had a 3 yr old Australorp hen who actually crowed several times. I would never have believed it if I hadn't been standing right there!

This hen was laying me LOTS of eggs too. She was most definitely one of The dominant hens in my flock.

This behaviour went away once I got a nice cock bird to head the flock.

 

[12toomany]

I am very new here, so I hope posting links is allowed. I had to look up the exact name of the book- here is the link-
http://www.amazon.com/Hen-Art-Chicken-Maintenance-Reflections/dp/1592287700

It is called Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance, and it is hysterical. It also gave me more information than any of the how-to books I read.

The author reflects on one hen who- well there's no other way to put it- started to develop male 'parts'. no kidding! Seems to be a lot of that going on in the coops around here! LOL

 

[MikeJanet]

hmm. starting to think I'm going to keep one of the roo's that were headed to my dad's freezer