Which of your hens are

[wvgal61]

Which of your hens are the friendlest, the alpha or the omega?

 

[chickaddict]

alpha - my omega is scared of everything, whereas alpha will sit in your lap or stand on your back if you are weeking.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

An interesting question. I really had to think. Out of our six, the one I think of as the top of the pecking order (no one ever picks on her) is a silver-laced Wyandotte and is pretty high strung. She does not like being picked up. Those at the bottom, I believe, are the friendliest. The RIR who gets pecked all the time, is the first to be on our laps. I'm curious to see what other will say.

 

[Eggzactly]

our speckle sussex who is pretty low is extra friendly

 

[Illia]

I could say Alpha, because the boss girl (Cheesecake, one of my Brahmas) absolutely loves to say hi to me, and "My lap is HERS, you hear her? HERS." But there are others who are sort of in the middle that are even more friendly, as they let me actually handle them a lot more. I believe she thinks she's above that!

 

[Backyard Hencam]

We are not coming to any conclusion here, are we?

 

[Kim_NC]

I'd have to say the middle ones are the friendliest. The alphas will meet me for treats, greet me, etc. But those in the middle are constantly underfoot, hop on me, follow me around, squat more readily, etc. Those on the bottom are in general the more skiddish ones - they'll come around but quickly scurry and never like to be touched.

 

[gritsar]

Definitely my omega, Lilith. She is so shunned by the flock, she comes to me for attention or when the roo is after her and she has a headache.

 

[azygous]

I have nine hens and one roo. The alpha hen is the oldest, and she's a lap hen of the highest degree and will find any opportunity to hop in my lap and burrow under my arm for as long as I let her stay.

However, the hen who is at the very bottom of the pecking order is also a lap hen. In fact, tonight at roosting time I was on my way out to close up the coop pop hole when I noticed the second from the bottom terrorizing Ms Bottom-of-the-pecking-order. As I opened the gate to the pen, the victim made a panicked bee-line for me and hopped into my arms with her tormentor hot on her heels.

There are two more lap hens in the crew, and they're right at the top of the pack.

I sure wish I knew what causes lap hens. It's certainly endearing.

 

[wvgal61]

My 2 omegas are. I used to only have them and then I got the 15 comets and they pecked all of them. Now they are the omegas.