My beloved andalusian hen, Beatrix, is a beast. She is only the second in command of the coop, but she is the only one who punishes the others on a consistent basis. The top hen, Pauline (BR) is mean too but she only does half-hearted attacks and will stop chasing to eat and is more content to establish herself on occasion, as opposed to Beatrix' "kill them all dead" approach. It's to the point that Beatrix stalks the others ALL DAY and only stops to eat or lay and then resumes. I watched her prevent two buff hens, that we just introduced this week, from eating AND drinking today and they have been together for 6 days now with NO improvement. I am honestly about to put Beatrix in a coop by herself permanently because temporary removal to isolation has only made it worse with her. She comes back with a VENGEANCE. I honestly think it is the "game bird" in her breeding, that's all I can figure.
But I digress...the reason for this story was to show a genetic predisposition to aggressive behavior. On to Beatrix' son...a couple of months ago, I decided to incubate a few eggs from my hens. The rooster is a red cochin, so I knew that the babies would be mutts, but I was curious just the same. I ended up with several lovely chicks, including an andalusian cockeral that looks just like his mom! I also ended up with a chick that looks just like its BR mom! The BR lookalike is my fave, and the andalusian lookalike is my husband's fave. All has been well, a month after hatching, until now. The other day I noticed that the BR chick has fallen behind in growth and noticed I was hearing a LOT of "I'm in PAIN!!!" cries from the brooder on the porch. Watched closely the last couple of days and sure enough, Beatrix' evil spawn is beating the now-runt up constantly! This evening I finally gave up and separated the BR. Beatrix' son had pecked it so severely that it was actually bleeding from the back of its head. My only take on this is that the little BR must also be a cockeral because the other three chicks that were with them seem to all be pullets and maybe Beatrix' son took the BR as competition. Enough is enough. I don't need more roosters, and although they are both beautiful birds, I posted them a few minutes ago on a local freecycle to find new homes where they will be housed separately.
All that said, and no offense to game-bird lovers out there, but I will NEVER own another "game" chicken. If I didn't love Beatrix sooo much, and if she didn't lay nearly daily, I would say goodbye to her too. I truly hope that my girl and her son are exceptions to game birds' personalities, and not the norm, because if they are normal, I feel for anyone who tries to integrate other breeds because I have had nothing but frustration.
But I digress...the reason for this story was to show a genetic predisposition to aggressive behavior. On to Beatrix' son...a couple of months ago, I decided to incubate a few eggs from my hens. The rooster is a red cochin, so I knew that the babies would be mutts, but I was curious just the same. I ended up with several lovely chicks, including an andalusian cockeral that looks just like his mom! I also ended up with a chick that looks just like its BR mom! The BR lookalike is my fave, and the andalusian lookalike is my husband's fave. All has been well, a month after hatching, until now. The other day I noticed that the BR chick has fallen behind in growth and noticed I was hearing a LOT of "I'm in PAIN!!!" cries from the brooder on the porch. Watched closely the last couple of days and sure enough, Beatrix' evil spawn is beating the now-runt up constantly! This evening I finally gave up and separated the BR. Beatrix' son had pecked it so severely that it was actually bleeding from the back of its head. My only take on this is that the little BR must also be a cockeral because the other three chicks that were with them seem to all be pullets and maybe Beatrix' son took the BR as competition. Enough is enough. I don't need more roosters, and although they are both beautiful birds, I posted them a few minutes ago on a local freecycle to find new homes where they will be housed separately.
All that said, and no offense to game-bird lovers out there, but I will NEVER own another "game" chicken. If I didn't love Beatrix sooo much, and if she didn't lay nearly daily, I would say goodbye to her too. I truly hope that my girl and her son are exceptions to game birds' personalities, and not the norm, because if they are normal, I feel for anyone who tries to integrate other breeds because I have had nothing but frustration.
