I’m confused

[Harris14]

I had two hens go broody. One of them, Penelope, are on top of the pecking order and the other one, Chicken, is on the bottom. The babies were almost 4 weeks old when Chicken decided she wanted nothing else to do with them. If they get near her she attacks them. She chased one down and tried to kill it so I moved the babies away from her and put her back in with the flock. She attacks them to if they get close to her. Flogging the hens. My other hen Penelope adopted her chicks and has had to protect them from her. I’ve never seen this before. I’m stumped on what to do with her. Why is she being so aggressive.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

She's weaning the chicks.

 

[Harris14]

She's weaning the chicks.

I’ve seen weaning the babies with my other birds. Chicken jumped on top of this chick and was pulling the feathers out and yanking it’s head. It was squealing.

 

[Harris14]

She's weaning the chicks.

She’s also attacking the hens now. She never did that before she went broody.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Sounds like a hormonal mess and though this doesn't help right now, I wouldn't let her raise chicks again.

 

[Mariella posey]

Solitary confinement would probably be best, give her some extra vitamins as well.

 

[Perris]

There are several possibilities. Besides those mentioned above, sometimes the hen lowest in the pecking order feels threatened by new chicks rising up in the flock, who may grow to push her down even more, so she's aggressive towards them, but 4 weeks is a bit early for weaning in my experience. I don't understand how she can be 'flogging the other hens' if she's bottom of the pecking order; please clarify.

Another common cause for this sort of behaviour is when the hen perceives the one she tried to kill as a health threat to herself or the flock. Perhaps that chick has picked up some infection or disease that your hen detected?

 

[Harris14]

There are several possibilities. Besides those mentioned above, sometimes the hen lowest in the pecking order feels threatened by new chicks rising up in the flock, who may grow to push her down even more, so she's aggressive towards them, but 4 weeks is a bit early for weaning in my experience. I don't understand how she can be 'flogging the other hens' if she's bottom of the pecking order; please clarify.

Another common cause for this sort of behaviour is when the hen perceives the one she tried to kill as a health threat to herself or the flock. Perhaps that chick has picked up some infection or disease that your hen detected?

She was at the bottom of the pecking order when she went broody. I let her do her thing. When the chicks were almost 4 weeks old she decided she wanted nothing else to do with them and started laying again. If any of the chicks or hens gets near her she goes nuts. The only hen she don’t flog is the top hen. She tries to hurt the babies if they get near her so they have been given to another hen that already had chicks of the same age. I don’t understand why she hates her chicks and why she’s flogging the other hens.

 

[Perris]

I don't either . If in due course you work out what's going on, do please return to this thread and tell us all!

 

[Harris14]

It’s been a while. Chicken has calmed down. She is not flogging the other hens as much. She pecks the babies if they get near her but she is doing a lot better. Thanks to everyone.