Tiny the Terrorist Attack Hen! Will She Become a Suicide Flogger?

[speckledhen]

Today, she launched a full on attack on DH, who was trying to just pick her up after removing her from the nest box to try to get her to eat. She pawed the ground, every feather on end, then she started hitting his leg, flogging with a vengeance, higher and higher up until my EE hen, Panda, intervened with a solid couple of thunks. Then, out of nowhere, my 5 yr old blue Ameraucana, Nora, who has been ill with crop issues and other old hen stuff herself, swooped in to stop the abuse of her "daddy". She whooped up on Tiny until she had her screaming. In the meantime, Isaac arrived to put an end to the chaos and Tiny yanked out one of his hackle feathers. He reared up, looking quite perturbed, ready to give her a solid chastising thunk when Panda returned to send her packing again. Everyone is sick of her around here and nobody in that coop will sit by and allow her to attack one of us.

Tiny is losing weight trying to hatch nothing. She is frustrated and confused, even more so than her usual condition, and her aggression has ramped up so much, we are at our wits end with her. We still don't want her to cull herself for no reason, but we aren't going to allow her to hatch chicks when she cannot see to pick up food for them and as far as we know, wouldn't be able to tell what they even are when they hatch.

 

[speckledhen]

Updating you on Tiny:

She has passed the time that chicks would have hatched. She isn't snapping out of it, no matter how much we throw her off the nest and the other hens pound her in the head. She is aggressive and scary thin. She may end up culling herself. Tried putting her in a cage with no nest and she went into some sort of weird state that scared us even more. Her bad eyesight and the unfamiliar place were sending her into a depression, which seemed to be doing her more harm than the broodiness. Not sure what to do for her at this point. We pull her out from time to time to feed her special stick-to-the-ribs food, but that may not be enough.

 

[Cetawin]

Silly girl....I feel sorry for her. She is confused, sight impaired, angry, defensive and hormonal. Wish there was something else I could think of....aside from feeding her by hand as much as you can daily until she snaps out of it I am clueless. I hope she snaps out of it soon before she kills herself.

 

[speckledhen]

Me, too. For all her problems, she is a good layer and can be sweet on occasion. She is so confused right now. Hate to lose a decent layer over this kind of thing, but it may happen.

 

[hcurrie7]

I have a black bantam hen I got at tractor supply. I got her as an odd ball along with Golden Duckwing Old English Game Rooster and hen. The Roo is horrible he attacks me constantly. Now she is joining in. I dont know what to do with them.

 

[speckledhen]

I don't tolerate rooster aggression, other than from the bantam D'Anvers, who are known for having that trait, though I don't keep the worst ones in those, either. In fact, I have one who is on the friendly side and I hope his genes pass on. Tiny is aggressive mainly from her frustration, partly from her Sumatra heritage influence, and my DH spent so much time trying to save her and keep her alive that he became fond of her and that is the ONLY reason we did not cull her. If you are having issues and don't want aggressive birds, no need to keep trying with them. Euthanize them or sell them with full disclosure of their issues.

Any large fowl rooster who shows aggression toward humans becomes stew. I don't pass on that trait and make no mistake, it's heritable. Have never had a large fowl hen who was human aggressive, other than Tiny when she is frustrated or hormonally confused as she is now.


Update on Tiny:

Still broody. Health still in danger. Thin as a rail.

And I think I may have accidentally hatched a daughter out of her and Isaac. Raven, thus far, seems to have perfect eyesight and is friendly.

Here is the possible Tiny daughter:

 

[Mac14]

Awww! Too cute! I hope Tiny gets better.

 

[artsyrobin]

just an idea on breaking her, i heard this from a friend - don't know if it works but give her a ziplock bag of ice cubes to sit on, it cools the increased temps that cause them to go broody to begin with

 

[speckledhen]

I guess I could try it, though she gets off and changes nests constantly. Someone runs her out and she just goes to another one. I tried the ice cube trick on my first ever broody about 8 years ago and that darn hen just sat on that bag of ice. I couldn't break her for anything and she almost died from malnutrition and dehydration, but that was after sitting for only three weeks. Tiny's been at this for about eight weeks already. I even moved her to a cage in another coop with no nest and she acted like she was in a trance, like she had given up and was ready to die. It was the most alarming thing, but then, with her eyesight, she cannot understand being out of her flock with familiar surroundings, can't see where she is, etc.

 

[sumi]

I haven't checked this section in ages. Cyn, I was almost too scared to read your last post. I expected you to say she passed. Poor, stubborn little thing. I wish I had advice for you, short of tube feeding her to keep her alive. What an awful situation

Raven looks like a little sweetheart though!