My friend top hen mates the other hens and she actually mates them like she will put her tail around theres, does any one elses do that? myne dont
This is actually *sort of * common in flocks that don't have a rooster. Some hens even grow spurs, crow and make the rooster alarm call when there is danger.
YES! I struggled with this.....I thought it was because my flock HAD a rooster and then he became people aggressive and we had to get rid of him. So that left my flock with out a rooster. One of the hens took over and she was nastier than any rooster ever was. I recently sent my aggressive hens to freezer camp and (just today) introduced the remaining flock to a NEW mr. rooster( I raised him from a chick that was the FREE exotic that came with my cornish X). Not a moment too soon as mrs. top hen was starting the behavior that earned the late Ms. B her unfortunate demise. So far the ladies are intrigued by this new gentleman. We will see how it goes, I hope he manages these ladies well. While my rooster was growing, all the hens were outfitted with pinless peepers. It helped quite a bit with the feather pecking....lowest hens eventually got their peepers taken off. Things balanced out to a managable level.
I don't have a roo because we live inside the city limits and aren't permitted one. Hens are ok as long as neighbors don't complain. Is this a problem I can look forward to? I can just see it now since the oldest (by about a month) is a bantam and the others are 2 black Australorps and 2 white Brahmas
