Pecking - should I step in?

[Malpower]

I have 4 hens -- oldest is about 9-10 months and the other three probably about 7-8 months. They have all started laying in past couple of months, the last one just a couple of weeks ago. The oldest has been top hen and while she can be pretty pushy and definitely a "me-first" kind of girl, everything was alright until recently. She has been jumping on the backs of the other girls and pecking their heads -- isn't that what roosters do when mating? or is this just dominate hen behavior (I know dogs well but am just learning about hens). I have wondered if it's OK to step in, clap my hands and try to divert her, or just move her away and at least off the back of the other girls. She does cock an eye at me when I yell, no, Lucy -- but she probably hasn't a clue what I'm saying, but that sometimes does stop her. I don't want to disrupt something that's important pecking order behavior, but I worry about the hens she's jumping on. Of course it's always about food -- greens, apples, tomatoes, meal worms -- I try to spread it out so there's a distance between the treats and so everyone might have an equal try at it, but Lucy does her best to rush around and chase everyone away. I also try to corral her in or out of the enclosure with the other 3 the reverse and give them treats separately, but doesn't always work out! She's not always like this, thank goodness, but she's much more aggressive than she once was.

Is this normal? Should I just butt out? I'd hate to see it get worse but don't want to mess up the pack or flock dynamics.

Thanks!

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Do you have a rooster? If not she could be taking the roosters place.

 

[Marlinchaser]

You are always gonna have a pecking order, as long as there is no blood, I would leave it be.

 

[Malpower]

Boy, that was quick! Thanks for the fast response.

No, no rooster, just the four girls. The dominate hen, did have a brother who came here with her and her sister when she was younger -- he was sweet but noisy and they're illegal in my neighborhood, so he went to a new home -- a hawk killed Lucy's sister -- so that's when I got the three new hens about 3 months ago.

OK, I'll try to leave it be and turn away unless blood's drawn!

Thanks!

Kerry

 

[flytpm]

I'm glad you posted this I'm having the same problem. I gave away BA's rooster brother and now he/she is attacking the new pullets like he/she brother was earlier. They're all between 6-8 wks old. Trying to figure out if its a he/she, but I've got that posted in gender section.

 

[Malpower]

I forgot to ask Bantygirl13 -- will hens take over the role of a rooster? That's something I didn't know about, but she definitely acts more like a rooster than the decidedly more calm and relaxed hens -- I thought it might be the personality of a New Hampshire Red to just be more energetic, busy, sort of nervous at times, always on alert, etc -- she's the one who can spot me moving in the house and comes running squawking at me to come out, and she warns the others of anything out of the ordinary. She definitely makes a good leader -- just wish for a bit more benevolence.

 

[cmom]

I know the birds have to establish their pecking order. I had two hens that were really aggressive. They would jump on the pullets and peck the heck out of them. I thought they might kill them so I removed the two aggressive hens and put them in jail for awhile. Jail pretty much cured one hen but the other was still a bully. I put her in jail for a few more days. When she came out I thought she had tamed down until I caught her on and wailing away at a pullet. I had a hose handy and gave her a good blast of water. It surprised her so because she was so intent on the pullet. She ran into the coop and didn't come out for awhile. I caught her a few more times after that and surprised her with more squirts with the hose. She finally calmed down. Maybe she was tired of being squirted.
.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Quote:
Thanks for this advice. I came on this morning with the same problem. My hens (3) no rooster were fine for months, getting along but all of a sudden the older one of the three started really picking on the weakest Lucy. I love lucy (no pun intended), she will let me pick her up and she is so sweet but the other two have started bullying her pecking her pulling out feathers on her head being mean. I started today by separating the older one giving her a time out in the wire dog cage. She has water/food but she can't run free like the other two. Hope this will punish her on picking on Lucy. I will try the water route when I let her out since I doubt she will forget about bullying her in the future. I liked it when all three would get along in fact Lucy now hobbles can't run or walk quickly. I can't tell if she's injured but I know something is wrong. She sits alone the other two seems so cruel to her. Why do chickens pick on the young and injured? I wish I could understand the chicken mind.

 

[CATRAY44]

Often without a rooster, one of the hens will assume the role. They have even been known to stop laying and start crowing. If she is drawing blood, it could get ugly, as that will attract more pecking from the other hens. If it is getting to that point, you might want to isolate the lead hen for a few days and knock her down the pecking order a peg or two... or four! I did this recently with my very aggressive BR. It worked great!

 

[Malpower]

Great to see the other opinions -- I'm used to dealing with dogs, correcting them for bad behavior, separating them when necessary, etc., so that was my first inclination with my little stinker Lucy, to reprimand her in some way, but I didn't want to do the wrong thing if chickens are a lot different than dogs -- but they all DO like to establish a hierarchy or pecking order, that's for sure. I'll let it go a bit, but perhaps I'll continue to break things up when she jumps on the younger pullets, a peck here and there isn't so bad -- she's a real harridan sometimes and the others are so sweet and mild. But she's certainly got a vivid personality!

I'll try separating her from the others more when it's time for "treats" and since she's the only one I can easily pick up, perhaps that's the thing to do -- I do know the hose scares all of them and they're just beginning to trust me with hose in hand when I come into the enclosure, so I don't think I want to go that far, unless Lucy starts to draw blood -- of course, the hose would hit both the guilty and the innocent which I don't want. Otherwise, it's interesting because while she is a bit removed from the other three at times, goes off on her own, neither she nor the other three have problems piling up in a dust bath area, they all seem to enjoy squeezing into a small area, and yesterday I found the big Brahma sitting on top of Lucy in one nesting box (Baby Brahma finally moved to another box) but Lucy wasn't the least bit disturbed about being climbed all over like that. So food does seem to be the major issue of contention -- or ownership.