Mean Hen with Spurs

[Cockadoodledoochickencoop]

I have 12 hens now and one named Willow grew spurs. I noticed she started growing spurs when she was about 18 weeks old around the time she started to lay eggs. She is a year old now, is an Easter Egger and lays beautiful blue eggs for me. She was the sweetest baby chick but the past last few months she has been so mean to her sisters. At first I was assuming she was taking on as the rooster but she is just being mean now. She has been chasing them and holds onto their neck feathers as the run away from her. She seems to favor picking on one specific chicken more than the others. She has no signs of molting. I am thinking of maybe separating her from the group and then reentering her after the pecking order is restarted. Or maybe getting rid of her all together. I am planning on removing or trimming her spurs. But do not think that will help much with her bad attitude. I have seen her be mean to all the chickens except for three of them because they must’ve made sure she knew they were higher ranked than her. No one has any evidence of her really hurting them. But you can tell when I put the chickens in for the night the one she picks on the most does not want to go in the coop. I feel so bad for her. Any advice or ideas of what I could do with my cranky Willow? I added photos of her and her growing spurs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm not jumping to conclusions but those hackle feathers look roosterish.
Is she still laying eggs?
The best first approach is to separate her temporarily - perhaps 4 days out of sight of the others.
I've been raising Penedesencas for a long time and virtually all of the hens have had spurs. Perhaps 2 or 3 haven't but some get as long as 2".
Some people remove spurs but I wouldn't unless she is making a habit of attacking other hens with her spurs.

 

[Cockadoodledoochickencoop]

Her hackle feathers are kind of roosterish but that’s how most of my hens hackle feathers look as well. She is still laying so she is a hen.
Separating her I thought too would probably be the best the best solution.
I haven’t noticed her hurting anyone with her spurs. I’m just worried she may realize she can.

 

[Cockadoodledoochickencoop]

Here is a better picture I got of Willow today. We are getting a separated box set up for her to hopefully change her mean attitude.

 

[Cinnabar45]

We too have Easter Eggers. At least one of our hens has grown spurs and one or more of the others exhibits rooster-like behavior, namely, grabbing other hens by the back of the neck and mounting them as if to mate. I passed it off as trying to assert dominance, but now I wonder... We also have some hens going broody, something I've never seen in Easter Eggers. No chance of fertile eggs as we did in our incorrigible attack rooster last spring.

Is there a sex reversal going on here in the absence of a rooster?

 

[Cockadoodledoochickencoop]

We too have Easter Eggers. At least one of our hens has grown spurs and one or more of the others exhibits rooster-like behavior, namely, grabbing other hens by the back of the neck and mounting them as if to mate. I passed it off as trying to assert dominance, but now I wonder... We also have some hens going broody, something I've never seen in Easter Eggers. No chance of fertile eggs as we did in our incorrigible attack rooster last spring.

Is there a sex reversal going on here in the absence of a rooster?

I had a girl broody before I noticed this rooster like behavior. Which I thought was odd as well. Especially when she wasn’t even a year old yet when she was brooding. I was assuming Willow was taking the rooster role since their are none present but she has not mounted any of the hens. She has held onto their neck feathers but then the hen will run while she holds onto them. I have not seen her successfully mount any hen yet.

 

[Sussex19]

She's definitely a hen, and a mean one by the sound of it.
Separating her to reset her position in the pecking order will most likely help
Going broody isn't affected by having a rooster or not, its just down to the hens.

 

[Cockadoodledoochickencoop]

She's definitely a hen, and a mean one by the sound of it.
Separating her to reset her position in the pecking order will most likely help
Going broody isn't affected by having a rooster or not, its just down to the hens.

I separated her from the group today. The one she picks on the most looked relieved. Hoping this helps her be my nice Willow again.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had a girl broody before I noticed this rooster like behavior. Which I thought was odd as well. Especially when she wasn’t even a year old yet when she was brooding. I was assuming Willow was taking the rooster role since their are none present but she has not mounted any of the hens. She has held onto their neck feathers but then the hen will run while she holds onto them. I have not seen her successfully mount any hen yet.

It isn't uncommon for a hen in a rooster free flock to take on a dominant roll. Nor is it rare for a young pullet to go broody. I once had 7 out of 8 pullets in a flock at about 7 months of age all go broody together in a community nest.