SOS! What's wrong with Violet?

[Marigold]

Marigold, want to help me throw over the traces with a pub lunch in the middle distance?

Hope to be driving again very soon now, it has been eight weeks today of incapacity and hopping!

What a lovely idea, Val. Have PMd you.

[bigyetiman]

O M G I can't believe what I have just read.
Perhaps we should all get together.
I don't have hair sprouting from my ears just everywhere else, as Margaid and Marigold can agree with. Not sure about OH her ears are hidden by her hair.
Glad you are healing well Val. keep on getting better

[Marigold]

Val, if you didn't get my pm, please let me know. Icemaiden recently said she was having problems with receiving messages.
Yes BYM, the more the merrier!

[Hen-Gen]

.
I don't have hair sprouting from my ears just everywhere else, as Margaid and Marigold can agree with.

Too much information!!!

[Marigold]

Violet is turning out to be quite a diva. Once over her 'funny turn,' she has settled down and become a pretty consistent layer of eggs slowly increasing in size. The trouble is, from being endearingly tame and friendly when she arrived, she's now becoming rather demanding and even aggressive. When I go in the run, with or without treats in my hand, she will jump up and peck my hand, or peck my leg through my jeans, presumably to tell me to hurry up and produce some kind of reward. On more than one occasion she has drawn blood or made a small blood bruise from her pecks, once even through the fabric of my jeans. I feel rather foolish saying 'Down!' as one would to a badly-mannered puppy, but I'm afraid she will do this to the two lovely teenage girls who look after the chickens for me when I'm on holiday, and then they might not want to come any more. She's not the top hen, that position has quietly been taken over by little Lily Leghorn, who has developed a glare which all the others respect for fear of something worse.
I've had a lot of chickens over the years, but none of them have done this. None of the others do it. Any advice or comments?

[rick]

Maybe picking her up whenever she does it? It works with Linden and I'm pretty sure it was someone here that suggested that with a cockerel. I think, while some tolerate and are even very comfortable with being picked up, they never seem to actually want to be picked up.
Lulu has got very bold and pecky lately. Because he is all springed up, Linden is often launching himself at my leg and holding on with his beak - its a very good thing he's small!

[valeriebutterley]

Poor you,
a beak can hurt and bruise. Even my little Pekin cockerel, Pierre, only does a "for show" attempt peck. Possibly Violet's future with you may need careful thought, I have never had a girl peck me, or even try to. I would not like to run the gauntlet when collecting eggs, so watch out Violet, you may be beautiful, but.....................!

[Marigold]

It tends to happen most when I go into the run carrying the treat box or a bunch of greens, and she gets impatient if the food isn't immediately available. She will do it whilst I'm tying the bunch of greens on the hanging cord, for example, and also when I have given them a sprinkle of corn on their big plate and am cleaning out the coop, bending down, when all the food has gone, as if to say 'Give us more!" She will also do it if I go in without anything in my hand, as if she still expects it. She seems to really like being picked up, always has been naturally tame, and is no trouble to catch and hold. She stands on the opened Aubiose bag by the doorway, and at times she uses this as a springboard and flies up on to my shoulder, and when she does this she doesn't peck me. It does seem to be a demand for attention as much as anything. I feel she just HAS to be first for attention, and is trying to attract it by the only means she has, rather than from the sort of aggression you might expect from a cockerel, especially as Lily is so firmly in charge of the little flock of 4.
It's not bad enough at present for me to feel I need to consider her future, Val, - I just need some chicken whispering techniques to try. Maybe she will settle down as she matures. She's only 23 weeks old and has been laying for only three weeks, and they do seem to get less inclined to fly up as there mature, don't they? The funny thing is, that Lily leghorn has never shown any inclination to leave the ground, and when I put her up on the special high perch my previous leghorns all used, she looked quite nervous up there, flew down ASAP, and didn't try to repeat the experience!

[rick]

I didn't mean to suggest she was being aggressive Marigold (unlike the little man here - bless his feathered feet), just that the only way to discourage the behavior is to make it unrewarding. But if she likes being picked up and is pushy, and withdrawing the food rewards isn't an option - (the old 'if Violet doesn't behave then no-one gets any!' trick), ...

[LadyA]

Only thing I can suggest is to wear sturdier jeans or an extra layer or two over them for a while, with boots and gardening gloves when you go in the run, and then steadfastly ignore her attempts at bullying you! Just try and pretend you can't even see her. You said she isn't top hen. Is she by any chance bottom of the pecking order? If so, she may be trying to be "above" you!