I have a RIR who is just awful. she is so mean. she WAS the sweet nice one out of the three hens i have, but now she is just a jerk. she has made me bleed THREE times and only three becuase all the other times I get away. Whenever they are free ranging and i go into the run to clean she traps me and stands in front of the door and than pecks my toes, shins and calves. She sucks. today another hen was in that submission mode so i put my hand on her back and the RIR ran up and pecked me..and i dont mean peck I mean bite. she grabs and turns her head like shes trying to rip off some flesh! today she grabbed the skin on my knuckle and i pulled back and she was holding on so tight it took off some skin and her beaks made a SNAP noise when they closed shut from me pullnig away! What is the deal?? anyone had this problem? if so..waht did you do?
This is very interesting. (And sad, I am so sorry.) My mothers chicken (yes, I know, long story, but there is only one right now) started chasing her. I told her to chase it back and let her know who was the top hen. I haven't heard a report yet. I have a hen that has on occasion hen pecked my hand/arm when I was pet one of the other hens. I chase the offending hen around and catch her if I can. I don't catch her I do chase her quite a bit. This seems to have helped. It will be interesting to see what other have to say.
I have 3 RIR's too. None of them have attacked, but the alpha girl scares me sometimes, like she wants to peck me. If i war polka dots they peck them, and sometimes they try to eat my freckles. Wear shoes and pants. Try these things!!! https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior
I try to chase her away but she stand her ground than that makes me closer to her than she pecks me! she's a shifty one! and my best layer
One of my RIRs ( production reds) pecks at me when they are just settling into roost I give her a "smart", small whack on the chest and she turns around on the roost. Give me a break chicken!! I don't put up with that business
Hi All Just wanted to add my experience with "my Mean Hen" lol She was only aggressive during broody times or molting something with hormones I guess..Well to make the long story short I got very tired of dodging and jumping and running away so I carried a spray bottle of water to the coop with me for a few days and everytime she came at me I sprayed her with water Didnt take but 3 days of that and she ran away when I came in instead of attacking. Might try that see if it works for you..I turned the little nozzle valve open to more of a stream so I could get some distance and It worked great..I no longer have to watch my back,legs toes or any other part of my body.. Good luck
