Unfriendly Hen?

[3speckled3]

I have a 3 year old silkie/frizzle mix who absolutely refuses to get along with other chickens. Over the years I have tried pairing her with different roosters and hens but she always starts fights; however, she is super friendly with humans. In fact, she loves to cuddle.

The thing is, she wasn't always this way. For about the first year of her life, she was like any other chicken. She didn't mind living with other hens and even got along well with our silkie rooster. She didn't start acting like this until her mother died (unforunate fox break in). I wonder if it's connected? She was very close to her mother, even when she was grown. She always acted like she was still a little chick around her, always trying to cuddle up in her wings.

We have had her in a pen by herself for a while now, and she seems very content and happy. I keep trying to put other chickens in with her, including the silkie rooster she liked, but she won't have any of it. She always tries to attack them. Is their any way I can get her to start being nice again? I figured since I'm now on this website I'd ask.

 

[azygous]

Your hen appears very formidable. And also very cute.

Chickens do form close bonds with other chickens and they suffer the loss when the close bond comes to an end. However, I believe you are mistaking the "fighting" with refusal to tolerate another chicken companion.

A couple months ago, I had the misfortune of losing my wonderful broody hen to a bobcat. This hen was a life long companion and former brooder mate to another seven-year old hen of the same breed. They were both assertive, and I had the two of them in their own run and coop because they both were chronic feather pickers.

So when I selected another hen (different breed) who also is a feather picker, figuring I could solve two problems with the same move, the hen attacked the new hen in a pretty violent confrontation. I stood back and kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't do any permanent damage to each other.

I realized they needed to do this so each would know where they stood in relation to each other. The fight ended, and the seven-year old emerged the victor. Then she did something I had never heard her do before. She crowed like a rooster! Three times, she crowed a perfect crow hitting all the right notes. Then each hen became each other's best buddy, and they've only grown closer since.

So, I urge you to give it another try. You may need to try out several hens to get the right match. If the fighting continues beyond the initial challenge, you will need to remove that hen and try another. But expect there to be a reckoning at the beginning. It's how chickens roll.

 

[McBriec]

I am a complete beginner and have had chickens only for a couple of years. However, I had the very unfortunate experience of having 2 extremely nasty Wyandottes who pecked the heads of Dominiques, causing serious injury.

Then I decided to put the aggressive chickens together in their own coop. My rescue rooster (frizzled cochin) wanted to be with the mean hens. After watching them for about 20 minutes I did not see any alarming behavior on the part of the mean hens who seemed to defer to the rooster. When I returned about an hour later, the rooster's head looked like Friday the 13th and he spent 3 days in the hospital.

The Wyandottes are now history and I now have a zero tolerance policy towards any aggressive chickens. There are too many nice, civilized chickens to subject them to sociopathic behavior of nasty chickens. If your mean hen is happy by herself I would be reluctant to test her with another chicken who could be seriously injured.