How to determine who the lead hen is?

[The Angry Hen]

 

[mountainbunny]

I've always kinda thought she was but never seen her be overly aggressive or bossy to the others. She is the only one I've seen "puff up" at our rooster to make him back down from her .. and he is big and aggressive... He's not mean to them tho. He treats them very well.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Not all lead hens are aggressive and bossy.My lead hen stays to herself,and rarely ever gets treats,but when she does catch a treat like bread,she usually keeps it.

Generally,the lead hen is the biggest,and most aggressive, out going hen,and may even act roosterish,if there isn't a rooster around to do the duties.My lead hen is just like another chicken on the farm,nothing special,usually if my dogs get a hen penned down,hens will come attacking her,but,my lead hen just cackles.if she does notice a hawk she will make a warning call,small cackles.

I can throw scratch and everything she will not be aggressive,you may not have a very aggressive lead hen,really just depends.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

I've had a small flock for one year now. We got them at about 1 week of age. 5 hens and one feisty rooster (aggressive enough to be a good protector of his girls but not too much of a nuisance to us). It may seem silly after a whole year of raising them and observing the interactions with each other (which has been fascinating) but I can't seem to determine who the top hen is. Any tips on how to determine? I'm just curious as I'm am a first time chicken owner and love watching them and learning all I can. Thanks!

The top tier can be seen on your roost. Whoever, are the favorites are will be on the top roost with your rooster. The others if they can't fit your roost, or are lower, will use other high objects to roost. When knew mature hens are introduced, the deck gets reshuffled, and I have seen brutal hen fights like roosters do, without spurs among hens until the deck is reshuffled. I have also found that most chickens have a 3 day memory. When my wife and daughter went to my mother-in-law's funeral and to sort through the enormity of her clutter, my son and stayed behind to care for the birds. We had an egg eater in the coup, and could not identify her. For three days, we hovered over them. The moment an egg was laid, we snatched it up. After 3 days, the egg eating habit was broken.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

This a little true.My lead hen would attack my young pullets when they tried getting on the roost next to the the rooster.

 

[mountainbunny]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[mymilliefleur]

You may not have a top hen. You may have what I call a ''circular pecking order''. Hen A is over hen B, and hen B is over hen C, and hen C is over hen A, if that makes sense.

 

[igorsMistress]

I have 5 pullets and a cockerel, raised together as well. No egg laying yet and my guy just started to crow.

They all roost and eat together and there's really not any fighting. The lead hen has always been the lead, but aggression was more prevalent when they were still chicks.

Now she gives the cockerel a slap with her wing if he tries to get close: she's not mean to the other girls though.

 

[BuckeyeChickenMom]

I've had a small flock for one year now. We got them at about 1 week of age. 5 hens and one feisty rooster (aggressive enough to be a good protector of his girls but not too much of a nuisance to us). It may seem silly after a whole year of raising them and observing the interactions with each other (which has been fascinating) but I can't seem to determine who the top hen is. Any tips on how to determine? I'm just curious as I'm am a first time chicken owner and love watching them and learning all I can. Thanks!

Your feisty rooster will generally favor one hen over the others, she will be the top hen. She will peck the other hens some and maybe chase them away from the food once in a while. She will be the one singing the loudest and longest when she lays an egg! In fact, she will probably be more vocal in general than the other hens. She will have the best spot on the roosts, roosting above the other hens if she can.