Melbourne12 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 This may be a naive observation, since we've been chicken keepers for less than a month. When we got our 4 chickens, they were just starting to moult (they were hatched in Apr 2010). The pecking order was clear - indeed insofar as we've named them, they're called senior hen, middle hen, and junior hen. The cockerel is just the cockerel. Senior hen wasn't in moult, and indeed continued to lay eggs for a week or so. Junior hen rapidly began to look a bit wretched, almost to the point of oven ready. Senior hen would literally take treats from the beak of junior hen, who just skulked away in submission. But senior hen has now started to lose her feathers, and junior hen to regain her nice fresh plumage. We're now seeing junior hen pecking senior hen to move her away from the treat of the day, whether greens or a corn cob. And the hitherto invariable order of emergence from the coop in the morning (senior, cockerel, middle, junior) has changed to senior, cockerel, junior, middle. I wonder whether our initial assessment of the pecking order was a bit hasty, and whether such realignments are normal, and permanent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henergy Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Well I don't know about pecking order changes, but one of mine was in moult recently and she was a different chicken during it. She became very 'pecky' and moody. Now shes stopped moulting -she is back to normal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Moulting takes a lot out of them and they can be quite run down during it because making new feathers requires a lot of energy. Its worth keeping an eye on them because moult can sometimes hide other illness and/or they can be prone to other illness whilst not feeling A1. You can give a poultry tonic if you like to perk them up, something like Lifeguard. Because of this, the pecking order can change, as top hen mopes and stands around feeling rubbish the others sometimes sense this and take advantage. BTW the order of entry/exit to the coop need not have any relationship to the pecking order, it never has in any of my coops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
