Pecking order ?

[City Farmer Jim]

 A question for the great minds here at BYC....if a head hen goes broody will she lose position in the pecking order. Here is the senerio...our head hen died unexpectedly and one of our soon to be hens(4/26) decided that she was the head hen(she's the biggest hen) and about 2 weeks later she went broody. Does she come back as head hen or has to earn the spot all over again ?

 

[AidKD]

If a chicken has been absent for a while from the flock then she'll "restart" and end up on the bottom. If she was head hen in the first place then it probably won't be too hard to earn that position back!

 

[Sussex19]

It depends how you are managing your broody.
If you leave her in with the flock (what I normally do) she should keep her position, at least to some degree.
If you separate her out (or if she is brooding in a very well hidden spot by herself) then she may end up down the bottom.
In which case she will likely stay there until the chicks are weaned.
This has just been my experience, anyway.