Mean behaviours in docile breeds?

I cannot speak to the situation in OZ, but here in the US, this is a result of breeding. Hatcheries don't select for much of anything as to being faithful to the breed, let alone temperament. Hatcheries here crank out thousands and thousands of chicks a month and use huge flock breeding, non selective methods.

The problem with this propagation is that it isn't really breeding. The more aggressive roosters are more successful at dominating the flock, producing more of their kind with each succeeding generation.

When one researches the temperament of breeds, the data is somewhat warped. These breed specific temperaments generally refer back to the bred to Standard or pure bred examples of the breed. This information isn't entirely helpful when buying chicks that are not bred to the Standard and come from parent stock that fall far short of the standard.

So, it tends to be more of a crap shoot as to what temperament one gets.

 

Cochins are supposedly dosile breeds, when i first got my 3 hens they were 7 weeks and my two red sex links bullied my cochins and barely let her eat. now my cochins took a rooster leader role.of the flock amd beats on the two reds. i thinks it has to do with pecking order.