HOw do you know which hens are top lead heN?

[troy4]

I have absuloutly NO clue which one of my hens r the big lead heN!

 

[Banana Hen]

Usually the top hens get to the food first, and you never see other hens peck them.

 

[cafarmgirl]

X2. The boss hen will move everybody else out of the way when she wants to eat, to roost, to take over a favorite dust bath, everything. My old boss hen doesn't even have to peck anybody, she just walks up, gives them the stink eye, maybe a squeal, and they make way for her, giving up whatever it is she wants. And, like Banana Hen said, nobody ever, EVER pecks her or challenges her.

 

[memphis]

X3...All the other girls make way for Big Betty when they get treats. She also has first choice of dust bath locations in the chicken spa.

 

[troy4]

WEll its kinda hard for me i have lots of hens!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s not always easy, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to spend watching them. Having a rooster in with them can make it more challenging. Some hens are more aggressive than others too. Each flock has its own dynamics.

If you don’t have a dominant rooster, the top hen might on rare occasions mount another hen, usually a fairly low ranked hen, to show her dominance. I’ve seen that but it’s rare. It’s also possible she will break up a fight if there is one. With no rooster there the dominant hen will usually take on some of his duties. She might be the one that is being the lookout or give warning signals if danger is observed. She’ll be the one in the best roosting spot, wherever that is in your coop. The chickens know but it’s not always where you might expect.

It’s not always the top hen that is picking on others. If two chickens have a conflict and one runs away, the one running away is the lower ranked of the two, but I’ve seen a fairly low ranked hen go out of her way to be brutal to another lower ranked hen. She may not have much status in the flock but she will protect what status she does have.

The higher ranked hens seem to stick together in a sub-flock and the lower ranked will often hang together. One group, the lower ranked, are avoiding the higher-ranked. That’s a way they avoid conflict. They often split that way on the roosts too. But you’ll also see them all mingling at times without regard to rank. A lot of these signs can be pretty subtle. I practically always have a dominant rooster. I don’t always know which is the top hen in my flock, but I can tell you which are the top few.