Maw-The Enforcer

I think every hen-house has a ‘Maw”.  Maw is so-called because of the way she is constantly saying her own name…  “Maw-maw, Maw-maw-maw”. Every chicken has a personal call or voice. Maw just happen to be one of the most irritating of all the chickens in the group of Black Sex-linx I purchased about a year ago. She was the most aggressive and kept the girls in line. I guess there can be only one boss; and she was it!   

Maw The Enforcer

 

A good bit of Maw’s time she just Lorded over the hens and poked her nose into anything that happened. If a hen finds a bug, bit of food, or anything which looks interesting, it becomes her business and she runs like a wildfire to manage the events.  She’s not a very nice hen, period!

Maw had no problems mounting another hen and pretending to be a Rooster. She never hurt anyone much….  It was a dominance show and most of the other hens avoided her.  She knew it too. I swore “SHE’D” be the first to have her head axed if ever I was brave enough to eat one of my hens.  I mean why eat a nice hen (grin)? She’d likely give me gas.

I took it upon myself to become Maw’s nemesis . At every opportunity I dominated her and bugged HER. Upon several occasions, I scooped her up in my arms and carried her around  “Maw maw, Maw maw mawing” to high heaven. I’d go about my business with a loud-mouthed hen who was just appalled to have been scooped up, then forced into body contact with the human. God Forbid!

I collected eggs with Maw tucked up under my arm. Then moved a broody hen over to get those eggs. Afterward, went over and picked up a few odds and ends that accumulated in the hen-house. About ten minutes later I’d release Maw; as long as she didn’t kick and struggle. If she did, I’d make her stay longer (I’m so naughty).

After about a month of this, she eyes me suspiciously and is just a bit weirded out by me. If I come upon her suddenly, she does the submissive bowing stance like other hens do when she walks up on them suddenly. I guess I’m queen hen now.

Today…  Maw was ‘playing’ in the lawn sprinkler… Drinking and walking through the small streams of water. She acted like a youngster and so happy looking. She no longer brooded over the hens or ran across the field to attack or pester others. She acted carefree…

Dayam-it … I guess she won’t be dinner after all…