What would cause a new alfa in herd?

[Kaitie09]

I have 3 does, one Pygmy and two Nigerian/Boers. The pygmy is 5 and has always been alfa to the other two. The others will be 3 in march. Yesterday, the Boers were chasing the pygmy around and she was screaming. I went out and checked and there was no blood, so they did not hurt her. I checked for other injuries and there were none, and she is UTD on everything. Today I go out to feed, the pygmy is usually aggressive with the food and will chase the other two out. Today it was the opposite, she would not come in and so I had to feed her on their deck. The other two were not chasing her, but they seemed to be keeping her out.

What would cause this sudden shift in the dynamics. My one Boer has been getting braver as she gets older, and I'm pretty sure she took over. It is not totally a bad thing, because my pygmy was pretty aggressive with the other two. She took over when my oldest pygmy died, and now she is back to the same temperament she had when she was on the bottom.

 

[Queen Mum]

They realized they are bigger and stronger and got tired of her being the head snot in the herd. That is the way herd dynamics work. She lost the fight. So she will be back at the bottom. She will get over it and be docile for a while. It's probably a good thing.

 

[Kaitie09]

That is what I thought too, I was just worried that they might be able to tell if she is sick or something, and were kicking her out.

 

[Queen Mum]

Nah, if she was sick, she would hold sway with her last dying leg!