Will chicks surpass mother in pecking order when they grow older?

[Nenad]

Will mom hen always be dominant to chicks after they grow and will she be only in front of females in pecking order or also in fronf of males? Anybody know answer? Thanks.

 

[Chicken Heel]

My experience has been that it depends on the mother hen's current rank in the flock pecking order. If she is one of the more dominant ones, she remains so. If at a lower level, some of those chicks will move past her at some point.

 

[Mrs. K]

Somewhere around 3-4 weeks, a hen forgets her chicks. They will be lower than her because they are younger and not laying. Once they begin laying, they will reshuffle.

 

[aart]

Once they begin laying, they will reshuffle.

Yep...and before the females start laying, the young males will see 'mom' as fair game for mating.

 

[Clodill4rel]

My experience has been that it depends on the mother hen's current rank in the flock pecking order. If she is one of the more dominant ones, she remains so. If at a lower level, some of those chicks will move past her at some point.

Is it normal for separated broody hen and chicks to get pecked on by one of her chicks? The one drew blood on her! Follows her around n pecks her neck constantly! I’m thinking bout killing it obviously I think it’s a Roo but this is so horrible and he’s only 2.5 weeks old….. normal ? Or aggressive ?

 

[Pghelp]

Certainly happened in my flock of 8. My Orpington was about mid-range in the flock, not at the bottom but not a dominant one either. She raised 2 adopted daughters from day old chicks. One of them, an Americauna, still defers to her mom who pecks her on the head frequently. The other daughter, a Black Star Sex-linked, is scared of the dominant members of the flock, but frequently takes food away from mom and has an evil twisting goose like pinch that she uses on both mom and her sister. So mean! She hasn’t passed her mom in the general flock pecking order but she definitely thinks she can and does successfully bully her family members!

 

[Mrs. K]

My advice was on much older birds than 2.5 weeks. That is very unusual behavior. In fact how sure are you? Most 2.5 week old chicks are not strong enough to draw blood. Is there something else that cause the injury and this chick is attracted to the blood?

Mrs K

 

[gimmie birdies]

There is the head hen, then she has a "hench hen." The hench does all the dirty work. If someone breaks rank, the hench will do the fighting for the head hen. "You offended my friend!"

 

[Clodill4rel]

My advice was on much older birds than 2.5 weeks. That is very unusual behavior. In fact how sure are you? Most 2.5 week old chicks are not strong enough to draw blood. Is there something else that cause the injury and this chick is attracted to the blood?

Mrs K

Actually my mistake that chick is 4 weeks as of today ! It’s the older of the batch lol but yeah no it’s totally pecking it’s mothers neck I had to wash her yest and I watched it doing it consistently not leaving her alone. He literally follows her n pecks consistently and she will go after him I have seen her do it twice eventually she gets sick of it. It I like any of the other chicks. None of my hens peck each other so it’s unusual for us….

 

[Trishkabob]

Actually my mistake that chick is 4 weeks as of today ! It’s the older of the batch lol but yeah no it’s totally pecking it’s mothers neck I had to wash her yest and I watched it doing it consistently not leaving her alone. He literally follows her n pecks consistently and she will go after him I have seen her do it twice eventually she gets sick of it. It I like any of the other chicks. None of my hens peck each other so it’s unusual for us….

huh, I was looking for a thread on chicks pecking and found this-our 2 1/2 week old chicks definitely draw blood. We have 5 and one is quite a lot smaller than the other 4 and they have been pecking her like crazy. They also drew blood pecking me! One saw a freckle on my arm and pecked it and I realized it was bleeding.
The little peck-ee can go under the heating pad setup that the others are a bit big for and she is vigorous and doesn't seem at all afraid. Should I be concerned? I have been cleaning her neck and keeping watch for infection or deeper cuts but she hated being separated the first night I found her with blood on her wing so I put one of the gentler ones with her overnight but they are back together.