Journey of the Hen who wants to be a Rooster

[qiab]

Early last year 2013 my brother gave me a hen. This hen was more like a roo then a hen. She was the alpha of the hennies. This was great I thought but what happen next really was not expected. This hen started to act like a rooster. She would dominate the other hens and took on a role as the rooster of the flock. There was no rooster present, just a few cockerels.

Well it has been over a year and she is finally back home. She went away to stay with a friend to see if he could get her to lay. He did get her to lay, unfortunately she wasn't committed to sitting on her eggs and none of the eggs hatch.



I am happy to have her back because she came from a special bloodline. I found her a rooster who has excellent husbandry and she has accepted him. I'v isolated her front the other hens and make sure her roo is always present so she doesn't get any funny ideas. My plans will probably be to incubate the eggs to ensure she has some offsprings. My brother suggest that I let her sit on dummy eggs and then after the hatching of the eggs in the incubator, introduce the chicks to her. Our goal is to make a good hen mother out of her. We want her to imprint her chicks.



Any experience with a hen who wants to be a rooster? Please share.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

She is beautiful and strong willed. She finally met her match - what a handsome rooster. I think that is a good start. I love that photo of them.

Although I have had a laying hen who crowed occasionally, I can't really comment on trying to encourage a hen to be a good mother. I think your plan sounds good.

 

[TwoCrows]

Wow she is gorgeous!! I have a hen in a flock with no rooster. So she has definitely taken the place of one. She has been very aggressive with the hens, trying to keep them in their places and she even taken to biting me in their defense, if say I go to pick one of the other hens up. She can get so bad, I use pinless peepers on her not only to stop her from biting me, but she will rip the other girls combs. But the other hens see her as the leader and follow her actions just as they would a rooster.

Good luck with this beautiful bird!! I hope you can get her to be a good broody momma.

 

[qiab]

I have been rotating between 3 roosters to get her laying. Each rooster has his own style. I notice she wasn't eating much because she was getting exhausted from courting while she was feeding. I decided to put in a perch with feed at the end. The critics are in and she loved it. No more roosters creeping behind while she feeds. Also added a lid to the hen box to keep it dark.

Looks like she is getting there, saw her go in and prepare her nest.

 

[qiab]

This is day 5, she is warming up to her nest box. This hen is very cautious about where and when to lay her eggs. In the past she has had her eggs and chicks taken by rats. Since then she has not laid consistently.

What I have notice about her behavior is that she needs a strong rooster to protect her from other hens and danger. If she ends up keeping other hens at bay then she will not lay. I matched her with a protective rooster who only wants to court her. It seems to ease her stress levels.



I put away the other hens when I let her out. Brings down her stress level and no hens to bully.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Have you settled on one strong rooster then, or do you want her to mate with more than one? It seems like the consistency of one rooster would help feel more secure.