My Gold laced Orpington has a taste for blood..

[gibsosyd]

Hello everyone!
So my Gold laced Orpington, Boo, is 8.5 months old. I hatched her from an incubator and she pretty much hatched out in my hands..so I have been around her every day since. She's so beautiful and I love her so much and she laid her first egg on January 12th and since has laid 15 eggs with one weighing a whopping 2.3 oz.! I digress.. A few months ago she started pecking. At first it was just my ring but over time she seemed to start biting. She has drawn blood before, but today is when she pecked me harder than ever when I was just picking up a piece of trash off the ground. Anytime I put my hand out to pet her (I always move slowly so she won't be startled) she rears her head back and fluffs her neck feathers like she's ready to fight. Meanwhile my almost year old RIR rooster has never been aggressive toward me like Boo. I thought orpingtons were supposed to be a very friendly?? How do I stop this?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Unfortunately, with a lot of hatchery breeds, friendly = bold/no respect for humans. I'd start using a squirt bottle to spray her when she fluffs up at you and stop trying to pet her. If you have small children, I would consider finding her a new home.

 

[chickens really]

Stop hand feeding and holding the birds...Chickens need rules like all animals and respect your space..

 

[gibsosyd]

Could you explain what you mean by hatchery breeds being bold and having no respect for humans? I got her as a fertilized egg from a local poultry farm with all pasture raised chickens. My chickens are still pasture raised. I know Boo's relatives came from a larger hatchery at some point, but are you saying her aggressiveness is in her genetics? I raised my RIR rooster from hatch and is from the same small poultry farmer. I'm a genetics major so that's why I am so interested in the genetics/breed aspect. Lol I hope that all made sense So there is no way I can convince her I am the highest in the pecking order like some say is possible for roosters?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Could you explain what you mean by hatchery breeds being bold and having no respect for humans? I got her as a fertilized egg from a local poultry farm with all pasture raised chickens. My chickens are still pasture raised. I know Boo's relatives came from a larger hatchery at some point, but are you saying her aggressiveness is in her genetics? I raised my RIR rooster from hatch and is from the same small poultry farmer. I'm a genetics major so that's why I am so interested in the genetics/breed aspect. Lol I hope that all made sense So there is no way I can convince her I am the highest in the pecking order like some say is possible for roosters?

Apologies--I assumed she was hatchery (and you know what they say about assuming...). A lot of hatchery birds are bred for production over temperament--it's easy for workers to monitor egg production. It's harder to tell when a hen is a little aggressive. Production Reds are infamous for human aggression, but they do make a lot of eggs. (There's a very interesting article--Scientific American--that describes how a certain line of foxes has been bred for tameness. Unfortunately, the article is not available online.) Of course, even if she's from a small poultry farmer, he could have been breeding for production over temperament.

You can convince her you're highest in the pecking order, but that does mean not petting her. Walk towards her, meet her eyes, and make her back off. Spray her with a squirt bottle if she gets aggressive. Don't turn your back on her. It takes some work.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Stop hand feeding and holding the birds...Chickens need rules like all animals and respect your space..

This is really strange.
What's the point of having a pet chicken if you can't hold, pet or hand feed it?
Makes no sense.

 

[aart]

Have had this happen several times, mostly with hand fed chicks often as they come of age and get spunky. It's pretty easily curbed with calm and deliberate determination.

I peck them back, on the head or anywhere I can reach, with the tips of thumb and first 2 fingers, as hard and fast as many times as I can before they get away. Well, not hard enough to hurt them, just startle them and let them you mean business. That's what another chicken would do, so they understand that kind of communication.

If that doesn't work after a couple applications, I hold them down to the ground with my hand on their back until they submit....again firmly enough to get the job done but not hurt them....add a few finger pecks and/or tug on the feathers on the back of their neck.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

It seems that she has you well trained. Meaning that she sees you as subservient to her needs and desires.