Red hen aggressive with chicks--should we rehome?

[alpinewelsummer]

Hey all! No pics at the moment but we have some sort of red/orange barnyard mix hen who, while very low on the normal pecking order and very friendly with other adult hens, has proven to be very aggressive with any babies we try to introduce.

We always introduce carefully with a cage to keep the babies safe of course, but from ducklings to keets to chicks, this same red hen has always tried to shove her head through the bars to grab and shake any babies we try to introduce her to.

None of the other hens do this, they're wary but friendly with new babies. It's just this one red hen. Like I said, she's never been aggressive or picked even a single fight with any adult hens we introduce. It's just youngsters she seems to hate for some reason.

I normally wouldn't have hesitated to rehome, as we've got two hens sitting on eggs and I don't want to take any risks when they're born, but the kicker is that this red hen was raised with our favorite prized bird and is very codependent on her.

Will they be alright if separated? If the red has always been low in the pecking order and is super reliant on our favorite hen, will a rehome stress her out too much?

We can't have her around these new babies that are on the way, but I'm worried about the separation as well.

 

[Cassandra Lana]

I would try too separate her with another bird who is not her buddy. See how she does . If she doesn’t do well then you may just have to put her in a separate pen within the pen with her buddy till the chicks are older.
Also, the reason she is so unfriendly to noobies may be cause she is likely part RIR which can be mean to youngsters (mine didn’t like ducklings ether but we adopted a older duck recently and she was fine with her )

 

[rosemarythyme]

Lower ranked birds are often the ones that will go after or harass chicks, possibly because chicks are the only ones they can outrank.

If you truly fear that the broodies will not protect the babies properly and have the space, you could separate her until the babies are well large enough to stand up to her.

 

[aart]

Lower ranked birds are often the ones that will go after or harass chicks, possibly because chicks are the only ones they can outrank.

If you truly fear that the broodies will not protect the babies properly and have the space, you could separate her until the babies are well large enough to stand up to her.

Ditto Dat!