Hey friends!
I recently ended a saga of an aggressive, young, sloppy rooster who tore my poor hens apart during mating (but only a select few of them that were of prime laying age).
Now that the rooster is gone, I observed a hen the other day acting REALLY aggressive. I've seen hens at the top of the order pecking at one another before, but this looked like abuse!
Lacey, the aggressive hen, just brooded out 5 chicks, and her behavior has become much more of a bully since then. I expect mothers to be tough, but she will just chase off other hens for the sake of chasing them. They won't even be near her chicks and she pecks, catches feathers and battles the other hens as they eat. She'll sometimes move like 10 feet to a new pile of food to run off another hen, even thought she has plenty where she is at.
The other day I walked up and saw that another hen was completely submitting to Lacey. I had not seen a hen crouch so low even with the rooster. She was completely flat on the ground as Lacey pecked at her back and the back of her head and the other hen just took it. What the heck?! Does Lacey need to be isolated with her chicks for a bit for an attitude adjustment? Is this possibly just temporary behavior has everyone adjusts to the changes of not having a rooster?
Some background info: I culled the roo about 2 weeks ago. The chicks are about 4 weeks old. Lacey is about a year and a half old with her first brood of chicks. Lacey and her chicks sleep with just 2 other pullets in an 8ftX8ft coop, while the other 12 hens/pullets have moved themselves into the old 8ftX4ft coop. They all have access to whichever coop they like, access to 7 nesting boxes, access to food in multiple places and the ability to free range across 4-5 acres.
I recently ended a saga of an aggressive, young, sloppy rooster who tore my poor hens apart during mating (but only a select few of them that were of prime laying age).
Now that the rooster is gone, I observed a hen the other day acting REALLY aggressive. I've seen hens at the top of the order pecking at one another before, but this looked like abuse!
Lacey, the aggressive hen, just brooded out 5 chicks, and her behavior has become much more of a bully since then. I expect mothers to be tough, but she will just chase off other hens for the sake of chasing them. They won't even be near her chicks and she pecks, catches feathers and battles the other hens as they eat. She'll sometimes move like 10 feet to a new pile of food to run off another hen, even thought she has plenty where she is at.
The other day I walked up and saw that another hen was completely submitting to Lacey. I had not seen a hen crouch so low even with the rooster. She was completely flat on the ground as Lacey pecked at her back and the back of her head and the other hen just took it. What the heck?! Does Lacey need to be isolated with her chicks for a bit for an attitude adjustment? Is this possibly just temporary behavior has everyone adjusts to the changes of not having a rooster?
Some background info: I culled the roo about 2 weeks ago. The chicks are about 4 weeks old. Lacey is about a year and a half old with her first brood of chicks. Lacey and her chicks sleep with just 2 other pullets in an 8ftX8ft coop, while the other 12 hens/pullets have moved themselves into the old 8ftX4ft coop. They all have access to whichever coop they like, access to 7 nesting boxes, access to food in multiple places and the ability to free range across 4-5 acres.
