I'm actually quite upset. My littlest hen, Maeve, has had a personality transplant. Where a matter of a week ago she would have been friendly and inquisitive, jumping up onto my lap at the earliest opportunity for a fuss, she has now turned into a mad attack chicken. If I put my hand any where near her, she pecks me. If I try and stroke her back, she fluffs up her feathers and charges me, beak open and a look of bloodlust in her eye. I have never encountered this behaviour before.
I don't remember any of the other young birds going through this stage, so I'm at a bit of a loss. I have certainly never been actively chased by a hen. I'm wondering if she's trying to assert dominance over me, as all the other girls like to put her in her place, although Mini has never done this. I am ridiculously sad to see her be so aggressive.
My best hope is that this is some kind of hen puberty, and that she is having the chicken equivalent of a door slamming 'You're sooooo unfair!!!' human teenage tantrum. The worst case scenario is that she has been so traumatised by the other girls treatment, that she has some kind of mental health issue.
I want my little friend back.
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