Lil'Bit is being a......twerp!

[gritsar]

My adult flock has adjusted well to my juvenile flock invading their space. I was really worried about intergration, but the adults has decided that ignoring the little ones is the best policy.
There's been one big exception - Lil'Bit, my half-blind, runt hen. Lil'Bit is such a sweetheart with humans and though she's my roos favorite, she is at the lower end of the pecking order with the other adult hens.
Seeing the little ones drives her insane. She stalks them and has flogged a few of them; including both cockerels. She especially hates the silkies.
I just don't get it.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Go Lil'Bit Go

She is establishing herself now as ahead of them in the pecking order. And those cockerels...........well she knows about them and puberty.

 

[gryeyes]

I know the syndrome - the lowest ranking hen of my original "core" flock immediately took it upon herself to let all subsequent members know SHE is to be feared. There's a bit of that with each new batch o' chickens I've added, but Greta (a black sex-link) will go out of her way to chase everybody who came after her. Especially the youngest additions, AND the bantam breeds. She's just mean to them.

She doesn't injure anybody, she just delivers a single, forceful peck backed up with GAWK!! and a dash after the poor youngster.

The "middle-ranking" chickens below Greta but above the youngsters always look very startled, like "What'd I miss? What'd I miss? What did they do that I should have handled?"

Greta is the only real bully. Luckily, she doesn't hurt anybody. But she can sure make the Gang of Seven scatter, or run the Sebright girls across the yard to shelter under the low-hanging trees. (Little Sebright faces peeking out through the yew leaves are awfully cute!) The most amusing Escape is that of Delilah Delaware's, because she's such a physically large chicken with long legs, already. Delilah makes me think of African veldt and (small-scale) emu races with those long strides of hers. Away from Greta.

Edited to change "tundra" to "veldt" and to wonder if Emus are even African....

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:

And I agree!

My lowest ranking hen (hatchery RIR) did the same thing when I integrated, she unleashed the fury of being beat up for so long on the new comers. It was a tough integration, but they got through it. I've integrated a couple more times since then, and she's still the "unliked" chicken by all the others, but she doesn't beat up on the newbies as much now.

 

[gritsar]

Y'all are too funny

It was kinda humorous when I took Impy out to the adult coop with me the other night. As I have previously mentioned, I cart Impy around with me in the evenings to give the pullets a break from his testosterone-induced insanity. I sat Impy down close to the door of the coop and he immediately ran to a corner of the yard, having already had a run in with Lil'Bit. Seeing him, Lil'Bit jumped out of the adult coop and chased after him. When she caught up to him, he got flogged. I'm not talking pecks; I'm talking about her hitting him with both feet and wings a flappin'. My adult roo Thor, saw what Lil'Bit was doing and decided to attack as well. Poor Impy, he got tagteam flogged. Thank goodness Thor's spurs are gone.

You'd think Impy would learn to settle down, knowing what's coming if he doesn't, but he hasn't.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Maybe Impy isn't smart enough? Poor guy, he just wants some tail.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yep, poor Impy's whole world revolves around when his next mating is going to happen. Every evening all you hear is the pullets screeching and either my DH or myself hollering "Impy, stop that!".