Hen is hiding from Rooster

[chickengeorgeto]

Once again how old is the rooster?

Chickens don't boss other chickens. In most situations the other chickens recognize and acknowledges the superior position of the chicken in question and give way to him or her so there is generally not a need for physical contact to enforce or boss the pecking order. A look will usually suffice.

 

[Rockvillian]

Once again how old is the rooster?

Chickens don't boss other chickens.  In most situations the other chickens recognize and acknowledges the superior position of the chicken in question and give way to him or her so there is generally not a need for physical contact to enforce or boss the pecking order.  A look will usually suffice.

From my observations, chickens MOST CERTAINLY do boss other chickens. They also do the other stuff you mentioned.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chickens don't tell other chickens what to do which would constitute BOSSING, however chickens do tell other chickens who they can socialize with and to what degree.

In this respect a flock of hens is no different from a catty lunchroom table of 13 year old girls who set up a click or cabal.

Bossing in most ways has a positive connotation in that the boss tells the bossee what to do and in which manner to do it.

Don't confuse this with what chickens do which is to establish a hierarchy of one with the alpha hen in the top spot and to one degree or the other the omega hens below her.

I guess that 99% of the times that one hen or rooster seems to abuse one of its flock mates and never relents is because the flock mate that we see as being abused is in fact a headstrong and obstinate flock member who refuses to acknowledge the alpha bird's place in society.

All straight or single comb chickens has a tiny patch of short feathers on the back of the head about as big round as a BB and it sits at the base of its comb. They raise that patch of short hair like feathers to signal submission to other chickens.

When we breed strains like Silks, Polish, or Cochin with non-standard plumage and combs we are in effect creating a strain of chicken that is generally unable to properly function in society because they are unable to signal submission.

Mother nature is a just old girl and she would never have created an animal potentially as aggressive as a chicken without giving that animal a way to avoid conflict. That is something that only a human could think of doing.

In a real sense anytime you have a hen who you think is being bullied or picked on, that hen imo is showing her game fowl heritage by refusing to quit the fight as long as life remains in her body.

If you want to breed a calmer strain of chicken then cull the chicken being picked on, and only hatch eggs from those shrinking violets who turn the other cheek.

Otherwise good luck keeping peace in your chicken coop because brothers and sisters, you are going to need it.

 

[josy]

The (2)roosters as well as the scared hen are 5 months. A total of 18 hens at the moment. 1 rooster is breeding and is behaving like a very good rooster. The other rooster is slower to mature and is just more shy and is not breeding anyone yet.
I'm not going to debate the meanings of "bossing" and "rape" I will simply state what I am doing with my scared hen instead. I have begun ignoring her for the most part other than making sure she has eaten and has water where she will drink. I have spent some time petting the roosters where she can see instead of her when she squawks at me for attention. That quieted her down. She still has not come down off of the roost on her own but she looked like she was at least thinking about it and was hanging out on a lower roost. Oddly after I spent timing petting the roosters she was more comfortable with the shy one at least when he jumped up beside her afterward. She wasn't bothered but she has always been the worst on the ground anyway. So not a ton of progress yet but gives me hope as I would really like to keep her. My next plan is to get her used to me holding onto the feathers on the back of her neck with my other hand on her back to simulate a breeding somewhat as I have noticed she doesn't like having the back of her neck touched despite how tame she is. (For course I will be gentle, the goal is to get her to relax and get some positive association with it). I'm thinking her main problem is she is just really stubborn and doesn't want to submit, add that to being traumatized once and her behaviour makes sense.

 

[Rockvillian]

Chickens don't tell other chickens what to do which would constitute BOSSING, however chickens do tell other chickens who they can socialize with and to what degree.

In this respect a flock of hens is no different from a catty lunchroom table of 13 year old girls who set up a click or cabal.

Bossing in most ways has a positive connotation in that the boss tells the bossee what to do and in which manner to do it.

Don't confuse this with what chickens do which is to establish a hierarchy of one with the alpha hen in the top spot and to one degree or the other the omega hens below her.

I guess that 99% of the times that one hen or rooster seems to abuse one of its flock mates and never relents is because the flock mate that we see as being abused is in fact a headstrong and obstinate flock member who refuses to acknowledge the alpha bird's place in society.

All straight or single comb chickens has a tiny patch of short feathers on the back of the head about as big round as a BB and it sits at the base of its comb. They raise that patch of short hair like feathers to signal submission to other chickens.

When we breed strains like Silks, Polish, or Cochin with non-standard plumage and combs we are in effect creating a strain of chicken that is generally unable to properly function in society because they are unable to signal submission.

Mother nature is a just old girl and she would never have created an animal potentially as aggressive as a chicken without giving that animal a way to avoid conflict. That is something that only a human could think of doing.

In a real sense anytime you have a hen who you think is being bullied or picked on, that hen imo is showing her game fowl heritage by refusing to quit the fight as long as life remains in her body.

If you want to breed a calmer strain of chicken then cull the chicken being picked on, and only hatch eggs from those shrinking violets who turn the other cheek.

Otherwise good luck keeping peace in your chicken coop because brothers and sisters, you are going to need it.

 

[Rockvillian]

Chickengeorgeto,
Where can one find more info on the tiny, bb-size patch of feathers used to signal submission?
Thanks

 

[josy]

To update on my scared hen. She is much more comfortable now. She has even become attached to one of my roosters. She allows him to breed her now with no upset. She is still a bit odd. She is now scared of the younger hens that she herself used to harass. Apparently they remember that and now that they are bigger they never miss a chance to put the run on her. But her issues with roosters are now over. So how did the change come about? I decided to free range(supervised) her and a rooster (just the two of them). Somehow being out in the grass etc... Seemed to make her start thinking differently right away and from there she just gradually improved. Now I free range all of them for a few hours in the evening but she doesn't usually join them on her own. Even though she isn't comfortable around all of the hens yet her quality of life is good and she is overall a happy chicken.