Hellomylittleladies
Chirping
Hi, hope the more seasoned chicken rearers can help me with deciding if my mother hen is protective enough.
I have a hen with 4-day old chicks. She is the unchallenged boss of my little flock, rather mean. I have two other hens #2 and #3 (numbered equal to their pecking order).
The mother hen has been enclosed with the chicks in the lower run section of the coop, within full view of the other two hens.
Yesterday evening and this evening, the mother hen was free-ranging for less than an hour with the chicks. #2 hen was chased away so badly that she stayed far away from the chicks. #3 hen is the lowest on the pecking order, but the most obsessive. She always tried to stick close to the mother hen pre-chicks. Now #3 is up to her usual behaviour, desperate to join the mother hen. She is following the mother hen and her chicks around, and whenever the chicks get within reach, she pecks at them and today I saw her pick up one and fling it.
Now the problem is, the mother hen is only putting her body between #3 and the chicks. She calls to the chicks, and sometimes returns them to the coop, but she isn't pecking at #3 at all! She never had a problem pre-chicks pecking #3 until it squats submissively in terror. Basically she is not being aggressive towards #3, despite her aggression towards #2.
What should I do? The chicks sometimes get separated from the mother hen for a moment, e.g. between a bush or behind the coop, and I am afraid #3 will seriously injure them then. Does the mother hen just need a bit of supervised time to figure it out, or does this situation raise red flags?
TIA!
I have a hen with 4-day old chicks. She is the unchallenged boss of my little flock, rather mean. I have two other hens #2 and #3 (numbered equal to their pecking order).
The mother hen has been enclosed with the chicks in the lower run section of the coop, within full view of the other two hens.
Yesterday evening and this evening, the mother hen was free-ranging for less than an hour with the chicks. #2 hen was chased away so badly that she stayed far away from the chicks. #3 hen is the lowest on the pecking order, but the most obsessive. She always tried to stick close to the mother hen pre-chicks. Now #3 is up to her usual behaviour, desperate to join the mother hen. She is following the mother hen and her chicks around, and whenever the chicks get within reach, she pecks at them and today I saw her pick up one and fling it.
Now the problem is, the mother hen is only putting her body between #3 and the chicks. She calls to the chicks, and sometimes returns them to the coop, but she isn't pecking at #3 at all! She never had a problem pre-chicks pecking #3 until it squats submissively in terror. Basically she is not being aggressive towards #3, despite her aggression towards #2.
What should I do? The chicks sometimes get separated from the mother hen for a moment, e.g. between a bush or behind the coop, and I am afraid #3 will seriously injure them then. Does the mother hen just need a bit of supervised time to figure it out, or does this situation raise red flags?
TIA!