The Hen and the Cockerel

[CoopedUpChicken]

I have a hen that was here before I moved here. She was left behind. She's 100% free ranging. I feed her seed treats and provide water.

My 5.5 week old chicks are in the coop/pen and she roosts in a tree close to their pen. The first couple of days she made weird chicken noises when she first saw them appear outside in the pen. Kind of like a "I'm the lead hen here, this is my town!" The first day she stayed 10 feet away from the pen and the second day she walked next to the pen - all the while making that hen noise to let them know who is boss.

Today, she actually walked right up to the pen and started making cutesy girl noises to a cockerel who was right on the other side of the hardware cloth!

He doesn't have very many physical rooster characteristics at 5.5 weeks old - can hen's tell who is male and female before we can?

 

[centrarchid]

The hen noises I suspect where alarm calls indicating something on the ground. The "cutesy" noises are likely an outright threat she is making that also includes leveling her back, having wings down at about a 45 degree angle, and tail up at a 45 degree angle and somewhat spread. The cockerel, if he if the dominant in the group, is giving signals he is dominant so hen wants to go straight to the top when comes to determining her rank within the group. She will be able to whip him for a three or four more months if they interact but they would eventually form a single flock if allowed.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

Thank you! I'll have to pay more attention next time to her body language. Her alarm noise was a "boooock, bock, bock, bock, bock, bock" real loud. I can't describe her cutesy noise...lol. It was very quite and singy like. Thank you for the info! She's been alone for a year and it's nice to know that she might be able to integrate with the new flock eventually.

 

[centrarchid]

What kind of chicken is she? Pictures?

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

I will get a pic of her up tomorrow. I had to go away for 24 hours for Memorial Day. I just got back and it's kind of dark now and I think she's up in her tree now. The chicks are all doing great!