Hens are usually pretty relaxed and docile animals, except for when they are brooding. If one, or some, of your hens are jumping on another hen’s back then this article explores why.
Hen jumping on other hens’ back:
Hens are known to be calm and docile while roosters are known to be more aggressive, this is because roosters have been bred by humans for cockfighting. Unfortunately, this negative trait of aggression can sometimes negatively affect your hens.
Hens can sometimes be confused with roosters, these two animals are often similar in size and their feathers may look pretty similar too.
If you think that your hens are jumping on another hen’s back then what you may be seeing is a rooster jumping on a hen’s back. This is a common occurrence and this behavior means that the hen and rooster are about to mate.
Animals have bizarre courting rituals, chickens included. When a rooster is trying to court a hen he will dance around the hen and jump on her once the hen accepts the rooster as a mate.
The rooster will also usually grab the feathers on the back of the hen’s neck, or on her back, in order to maintain balance during copulation.
What to do:
This is normal behavior and as long as the rooster isn’t harming the hen while doing this then you can let the two be.
If the grabbing gets too aggressive, and your hen starts to develop a bald patch on the back of her neck, then you may need to give the hen a chicken saddle to keep her back protected during mating.
This saddle will also allow the bird’s feathers to grow back undisturbed.
If the hen seems distressed, or if the rooster draws blood while mating with the hen, then you’d definitely need to intervene.
Younger roosters may be more aggressive because they lack experience but they should grow out of this.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chickens Fighting To The Death, Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Brown Liquid?, Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Water?, Chicken Crouching When Walking, Hen Fighting Rooster
