Poultry Whisperer
Songster
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.
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.
