Hen starting to fight roosters?

[meetthebubus]

So punky pictured here

Will be 3 yrs in May not laying much anymore and is on top of pecking order for her flock. They've lived next to the egger flock for a year now and just this week she decided to engage in fighting behaviour against the ee roo pic here

She sticks her head through the fence and he engages and they peck her Crest has tiny injuries

Of course I can fix it so she cant stick her head through my issue is what others think the reason is behind this strange behavior dominance? Doesn't like this roos behavior? Her rooster Roo ignores this interaction and is scared of this other roo. Maybe she was defending her man? Has too much testosterone? Never saw a roo and laying hen fight....

 

[Shadrach]

Without a lot more detail its impossible to say why your hen is behaving like this.
What I would say is fence fighting should be discouraged. Make the fence so they can't peck at each other.
Hens will fight roosters. It's not at all uncommon.

 

[aart]

Is there a male in her pen?

 

[meetthebubus]

I appreciate the replies but encourage to reread the original post as first replied saying I should fix the fence which I did mention I already know and mentioned

And the question of if she has a roo was addressed in the first post as well

Thank you anyhow

I also have to disagree with a hen fighting a rooster through a fence as common at least I've never read this here or seen it myself but who knows?


Anyone else feel challenge fighting normal between hen and roo living separate?

 

[meetthebubus]

Without a lot more detail its impossible to say why your hen is behaving like this.
What I would say is fence fighting should be discouraged. Make the fence so they can't peck at each other.
Hens will fight roosters. It's not at all uncommon.

Hmm sorry I disagree but appreciate your input although it does come off to me as unhelpful bc it doesn't answer the question if you need more details ask the questions you feel need answering in order to better tell.

I do feel like I gave lots of info like breeds, gender, age, living situations, timeline, egg laying situation, pecking order, even pics

I dont want this to come off negatively bc I appreciate others thoughts even if I see it differently

 

[Shadrach]

Hmm sorry I disagree but appreciate your input although it does come off to me as unhelpful bc it doesn't answer the question if you need more details ask the questions you feel need answering in order to better tell.

I do feel like I gave lots of info like breeds, gender, age, living situations, timeline, egg laying situation, pecking order, even pics

I dont want this to come off negatively bc I appreciate others thoughts even if I see it differently

Fair enough comment. I was in a hurry.

For a time here (over seven years ago) there were four bantams kept permanently in a very small run here, but there were other hens and roosters free ranging, including a male and female bantam. The run of the confined bantams was protected by standard gauge chicken wire. The free range bantams and two of the free range Marans roosters in particular used to go past this run on a daily basis on their way to forage at the compost heap which was close by.
Here is a picture of the coop and run in which the 4 bantams were kept. It's the coop furthest away.

Here is a picture of that same coop with the wire stripped off being used as a nesting box by one of the original free range bantams.

Most days the senior Marans rooster and the free range bantam rooster would stop at this run and seemingly taunt the roosters contained in the run. They would drop their heads to the ground and peck at it, much as roosters do when they are preparing to fight. Under free range conditions this behavior is usually over territory and resources and often there is a brief half hearted rush at each other and the roosters make what sounds like a slightly hysterical call and any actual physical contact is brief.
The important point here is this happens with competing roosters. There are other roosters here that will not make this call, or prepare to fight but will run away. They are not going to compete with a senior rooster over resources or territory.
The free range bantam hen would also stand at the chicken wire of this enclosure and try to peck at both the male and female confined bantams. I never saw one of the Marans hens do this.
The reaction of the confined roosters and hens was to launch themselves at the chicken wire in an attempt to get at the 'aggressor' outside. One of the confined roosters broke one of his spurs off attempting to fight the bantam hen one day.
I hadn't been looking after these chicken very long at this point but did manage to persuade the people who owned these chickens to allow me to let the confined bantams free range with the other chickens.
The bantams had been confined because they would roost in the trees at night and their owners were either unwilling, or unable depending on circumstances, to either get them out of the trees, or train them to go into their coops at night.
Having witnessed the ferocity of these exchanges through the run chicken wire I was very apprehensive about what might happen once they free ranged with the rest of the chickens.
I spent the entire day watching completely fascinated by the interactions between the now freed bantams and the rest of the free range chickens.
It would take me pages to describe accurately what happened that day but there was no fighting, no chasing the newly released bantams. All the chickens that were already free range visited the newly freed bantams at some point in that day. It was if the fence fights had never happened.
Interestingly within a couple of weeks the bantams that had been free range but housed with the marans moved into the now open coop with the 4 that had been previously confined. They became Tribe 2.
Other chicken keepers I've made contact with over the years have reported much the same behavior when mixing free range and confined chickens that are able to see each other through a fence.
Why do they do they fence fight? I have some theories but I don't 'know' and nor does anyone else.

Hens fighting roosters is common here. The most usual reason is a particular hen doesn't want to mate with a particular rooster.
If the rooster is junior and/or of a similar size the hens here will fight off any unwanted attention. The idea of a rooster being able to dominate any hen in order to mate is an old wives tale. Here, if the rooster is too big to fight the hens run. Given the hens and roosters here live in small groups with a senior rooster they mate with in each group, the hens will run to that senior rooster for protection if they cannot fight off a rogue rooster.
I could happily write about flock dynamics for hours. You might find this thread interesting because it helps to show that in the keeping arrangements I have here there is a lot more structure and cooperation between the members of this species than one might think. it may also help to show the level of observation I regularly engage in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/cooperative-behavior.1288804/

 

[aart]

And the question of if she has a roo was addressed in the first post as well

Yep, sorry, missed it.

 

[meetthebubus]

I'm starting to think she wants more dominance as she tidbitted today and gave away a piece of her grape which she promptly regretted and came to me for more... she sure is acting strange lately I wonder If it's like menopause for hens

 

[Fishkeeper]

Menopause is a hormonal change seen in mammal species that live in matriarchal societies, like orca whales, elephants, and humans. As far as I'm aware, there's no equivalent for small prey animals, because small prey animals aren't likely to survive past breeding age.
Also, 3 isn't that old for a chicken.

 

[meetthebubus]

Well every hen has their stop time, besides her crest is short right now so I know she's not laying, besides one never knows just like many don't know chickens can come to their name but the menopause part was mostly metaphoric