can hens get jealous?

[angelat]

hi all

im starting to think my bossy rescue hen that i got who rules the roost gets jealous. i know she has taken over and is boss over my resident hen but a couple of times she has pecked the resident hens feathers if i hand feed her. as soon as she sees me hand feeding her she runs up and pecks her! it doesnt happen all the time but do you think she could be jealous, i make a fuss of both but sometimes feel sorry for my old hen as the other one barges in first. the resident hen has been on the moult so hope she gets braver when her feathers come back.

angela x

[DarkCrow]

Like any other animal yes! i don't keep chooks myself but i've seen discomfort sufferd by mums fav cause she's got a new bantam that wants to stamp its mark.

[Suechooks]

I'd guess its the food in your hand she's coveting rather than your affections! Much as I love all my hens I know their attachment to me is purely self interest!

[nellie-m]

I like to think chickens are little dinosaurs. Very strange creatures sometimes. I like to watch them *because* they are so different. Several times, for example, I've watched one hen peck at another hen who was being mounted by a cockerel. Was that jealousy? I don't know. I guess there was some emotion that made her do it, but what sort of emotion it was I couldn't say. Maybe it was just the mean joy of being able to clip that other hen's ears while she was unable to defend herself.

All I can say is: it was chicken behaviour. I always feel I'm looking into a different world when I watch my gallosaurs - even though they are domestic creatures, there's something very wild and weird about them
(and I'm always happy I'm not the size of a beetle or mouse... how scaaaary they would be!)

[baldrick]

I think yes. Personally I think in social creatures jealousy is an evolutionary necessity. After all, if you are a little velociraptor after corn/warm bed/protection of the boss and you try not to covet thy neighbour's corn/warm bed/protection of the boss then thy neighbour will eat said corn, snuggle down warm, raise little chicks and generally be successful while you go hungry and get pecked by someone else who understands the absolute law of mini dinosaurs..."the meek shall inherit the nestbox and the corn (if thats ok with eberyone else)"