Who's the head of your pecking order?

[The Dim Side]

How do you tell what their pecking order is? I can tell that a couple get picked on a little more than others, so more who's toward the bottom. But I have no idea who the ones are at the top. None of mine fight much that I've noticed! Just some injured combs here and there. We do have a rooster, too, so I always just assume he's leader, lol.

 

[Poultry Whisperer]

How do you tell what their pecking order is? I can tell that a couple get picked on a little more than others, so more who's toward the bottom. But I have no idea who the ones are at the top. None of mine fight much that I've noticed! Just some injured combs here and there. We do have a rooster, too, so I always just assume he's leader, lol.

It's a bit of a science haha. I'll ramble a bit for you:

Some chickens certainly do get pecked a lot, which as you said, means their probably towards the bottom and a common target. It's mainly about keeping track of who's pecking who, and who isn't. Who is getting pecked consistently by who? Who do you not see getting pecked by who? Also, chickens don't exactly like to be pecked, so they respond in two ways. They will usually run away (indicating that they respect the authority of the other chicken), or they will be stubborn in some way by either directly fighting back or holding their ground.

If there's a lot of fighting between certain chickens it usually means they're close in status and are trying to one up the other. Usually it takes a few fights for a chicken to claim victory, but that really depends. Some of my chickens have rivalries spanning years where they haven't quite figured out how to respect each other. But since your flock is quite peaceful, they've probably got their order figured out!

How did you raise your chickens? I've noticed that chickens raised together will stick with each other at first, but overtime differences will arise and they will divide. Some breeds get along very well with others like them, while others don't care as much and will bond with or hate anyone. Did you slowly build up your flock? If so, the older ones are probably in charge.

I don't have any experience with roosters, but given their protective nature, your rooster is probably in charge!

 

[Aunt Angus]

It took me a bit to spot my top hen. But I noticed my other chickens will give her space. They'll move out of the way when she approaches the feeder. My other chickens will literally put their heads down and submit to her.

Not only that, my ROOSTER leaves her alone! She always has the most beautiful feathers because no one picks on her, and she will not squat for my rooster. She will only squat for me - haha!
If my rooster postures or crows threateningly at me, she will go after him and defend me.

This is Zinnia. She's a BADASS.

 

[Aunt Angus]

My boss hen is a 3 1/2 year old ISA Brown named Gwyneth. She is also the smallest and lightest of the 7 hens I have. But she’s 3.8lbs of fury if you try to challenge her. She’s held her own against the other mixed breeds who all weigh about 6.5lbs and larger. My heaviest is a 7.8lb RIR, who I would say is probably second in the pecking order. Gwyneth is actually not doing great right now, so I wonder if she will be healthy enough to survive this winter.

I love that 2nd picture of Gwyneth! She's adorable!!!!

 

[My Three Chicks]

Also you'll sometimes see the hens at the bottom 'squat' when the higher one comes towards them. When my little one does that, the higher hen seems to not know what to make of it and doesn't peck her and walks away!

 

[BY Bob]

Miss Lilly is over 6 years old. Only lays 2 or 3 eggs a year but she still wears the crown at Fluffy Butt Acres!

 

[BY Bob]

I'll go first. Out of my chickens, the leader of the pecking order is a Blue Americana hen named Grey. She will be five years old next month. She's one of my favorites and her story is quite interesting I think.

During her youth, she was quite a personality. She was raised with another Blue Americana (named Dory) and three Barnevelders. Dory was much smaller than Grey and the Barnevelders, so Grey decided to basically adopt Dory and protected her from the power-hungry Barnevelders. Anytime Dory was bullied, Grey would come to her defense. However, this is where Grey's generosity ends. The rest of her youthful personality consisted of arrogance and aggression. When my first ducks were hanging outside as mere teenaged ducklings, Grey decided to attack one of them in order to assert dominance. The duckling was injured, but recovered a few weeks later. Following this, the ducks completed their integration. Grey decided to attack them again, but this time couldn't injure any of the ducks because they had grown in their adult feathers. The three ducks dogpiled on Grey, and she gave up her attacks after a few days. It was quite a humbling experience, she hasn't attacked a duck since then. This was four and a half years ago.

Grey also made a name for herself by standing up to the oppression of the three older hens I had at the time. Specifically, there was one I called Jessie that claimed an entire roost to herself. Her ego was that large, which considering she was a New Hampshire Red, wasn't too much of a surprise. Anyway, Grey decided it would be a phenomenal idea to challenge Jessie every night for months. Each night, she would perch up on Jessie's roost and refuse to leave. In response Jessie would peck Grey constantly until she abdicated. Jessie would always win, but sometimes Grey would endure minutes of pecking before leaving the roost.

Today, Grey is a much more humble chicken. She finally claimed top spot out of all the chickens last year, when the last of my older chickens passed away due to old age. Unlike her predecessors, Grey is happy to roost with literally anyone and will share Jessie's Roost with any chicken that wants to be up there. She's always in the middle of forging parties and stuff like that. A real leader. However, there is still one trace of her old self. Anytime she perceives that a chicken is challenging her authority, she will relentlessly chase them across the property. They can bow, they can run, they can cluck, doesn't matter, Grey will chase them until she feels that her point has been made. However, Grey will never be at the top of the entire pecking order. That spot goes to the ducks. The one she attacked all those years ago is still around today and is currently second in command of the entire pecking order, behind only my guard goose.

Here are some pictures of Grey over the years.

She is very pretty.

 

[BY Bob]

My boss hen is a 3 1/2 year old ISA Brown named Gwyneth. She is also the smallest and lightest of the 7 hens I have. But she’s 3.8lbs of fury if you try to challenge her. She’s held her own against the other mixed breeds who all weigh about 6.5lbs and larger. My heaviest is a 7.8lb RIR, who I would say is probably second in the pecking order. Gwyneth is actually not doing great right now, so I wonder if she will be healthy enough to survive this winter.

Hang in there Gwyneth. You can do it!

 

[BY Bob]

It took me a bit to spot my top hen. But I noticed my other chickens will give her space. They'll move out of the way when she approaches the feeder. My other chickens will literally put their heads down and submit to her.

Not only that, my ROOSTER leaves her alone! She always has the most beautiful feathers because no one picks on her, and she will not squat for my rooster. She will only squat for me - haha!
If my rooster postures or crows threateningly at me, she will go after him and defend me.

This is Zinnia. She's a BADASS.

View attachment 2905973

One good looking bad ass!

 

[-Flash-]

Princess. We believe that she is 7 or 8 years old.... but who knows? I don't think she'll survive the summer. Every chicken leaves Princess alone.

But then there's Buddy. Buddy beats up the rooster. She is an Australian Araucana and is an escape artist.