Help!!!! One of my hens seems to think she's a rooster. We started out with 3 hens that grew up together, and then lost one of them last spring. The remaining two, a BR and black australorp, are now 3 years old. Australorp was always dominant, but friendly and easy to handle. Now she's becoming unbearable. If I approach the BR or turn my back to her, she will rush at me and peck- HARD! She has even started making crowing sounds in the morning.
To make matters worse, we got 2 new chicks this summer, an ameraucana and a cochin, who are now about 13 weeks old. I was desperate to get them out of my garage and finally introduced them to the little coop. I let them free range in the yard together during the daytime and after a few days put the babies in the coop at night. Ms. Australorp is absolutely wretched to them in the coop, delivering a beat down at any possible moment. BR pretty much leaves them alone. The babies have a box to hide in and spend the entire day crouched on top of it until I let the "big girls" out into the yard and they can safely come down and free range as well. When all are in the yard, the babies just steer clear of the big girls.
Not sure how to better handle my aggressive hen in terms of my interactions with her (and I'm afraid she will attack my kids!) or how to smooth the transition for the babies. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated!!!!
To make matters worse, we got 2 new chicks this summer, an ameraucana and a cochin, who are now about 13 weeks old. I was desperate to get them out of my garage and finally introduced them to the little coop. I let them free range in the yard together during the daytime and after a few days put the babies in the coop at night. Ms. Australorp is absolutely wretched to them in the coop, delivering a beat down at any possible moment. BR pretty much leaves them alone. The babies have a box to hide in and spend the entire day crouched on top of it until I let the "big girls" out into the yard and they can safely come down and free range as well. When all are in the yard, the babies just steer clear of the big girls.
Not sure how to better handle my aggressive hen in terms of my interactions with her (and I'm afraid she will attack my kids!) or how to smooth the transition for the babies. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated!!!!
