Hen MOUNTING pullet?

LikeTurkeys

Crowing
6 Years
Jul 25, 2018
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Southern California
Hi there! One of my hens who is a few months over a year, mounted one of my 22 week pullets. My cockerel, who is the same age as the pullets pushed her off and proceeded to mount the pullet himself. The hen (a RIR) then aggressively grabbed him by his comb and pulled HIM off. What is going on here??? I've heard of hens behaving more like roosters as they get older (like, 6-7 years?) but never at this age. She's laying eggs great. Thanks!
 
Hi there! One of my hens who is a few months over a year, mounted one of my 22 week pullets. My cockerel, who is the same age as the pullets pushed her off and proceeded to mount the pullet himself. The hen (a RIR) then aggressively grabbed him by his comb and pulled HIM off. What is going on here??? I've heard of hens behaving more like roosters as they get older (like, 6-7 years?) but never at this age. She's laying eggs great. Thanks!
Dominance is going on there.
 
She does always attacks him whenever he makes any move towards the girls (I feel bad for him), but actually mounting? He just started crowing last week and is the sweetest boy, always giving treats to the girls.
Doesn't matter. She sounds like your head hen and she is keeping her flock in line as she sees it should be.
 
I have seen my spayed female dogs do that too. and as DobieLover said they are showing who is boss It still makes me mad. I need to show them I am the boss but I aint doing that !
 
Doesn't matter. She sounds like your head hen and she is keeping her flock in line as she sees it should be.
Wow, okay. Yeah, she's the head hen. When she sets her eyes on him he runs with his tail tucked between his legs (so as to prevent the nice tail feathers from being yanked out). I've heard that if you have an older hen that's dominant it keeps the young cockerels from becoming jerks. Seems to be the case here anyway.
 
Wow, okay. Yeah, she's the head hen. When she sets her eyes on him he runs with his tail tucked between his legs (so as to prevent the nice tail feathers from being yanked out). I've heard that if you have an older hen that's dominant it keeps the young cockerels from becoming jerks. Seems to be the case here anyway.
Good for you and good for him that you have someone to keep order in the flock. Let her have at it.
 
Of course your cockerel may think she is being the jerk but I guess it is a matter of perspective. :celebrate

I've seen that behavior before in a flock without a mature male but with mature hens, immature pullets, and an immature cockerel. The head hen would knock the cockerel off when he tried to mount anther hen or pullet, just to show that she was boss. She would mount a pullet in front of him to show she was the boss.

Eventually the cockerel matured enough to try to take over as flock master. The hen would not submit so for two days it was war. It wasn't so much that they would fight, he was bigger so she would run away. But out of the blue he would attack her, pecking at her head mainly. That kept on for two days but finally she submitted to his dominance and they became best buddies.
 
Of course your cockerel may think she is being the jerk but I guess it is a matter of perspective. :celebrate

I've seen that behavior before in a flock without a mature male but with mature hens, immature pullets, and an immature cockerel. The head hen would knock the cockerel off when he tried to mount anther hen or pullet, just to show that she was boss. She would mount a pullet in front of him to show she was the boss.

Eventually the cockerel matured enough to try to take over as flock master. The hen would not submit so for two days it was war. It wasn't so much that they would fight, he was bigger so she would run away. But out of the blue he would attack her, pecking at her head mainly. That kept on for two days but finally she submitted to his dominance and they became best buddies.

I'm sure he does :). He doesn't dare to get even close to any of the hens. How long does it take for him to become master of the flock? And hopefully when they're at war they don't get hurt much right?
 

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