Establish pecking order ?

[Hatching]

At what age do chicks/young birds establish their pecking order ? My pullets are 14 weeks and up until recently they have been calm and gentle birds. This past week I've been noticing many small fights between them. Nothing serious, no one is ever hurt, and they only last seconds.
Thanks everyone

 

[Judy]

What you're probably seeing is the advent of the "teenage years," when their hormones are rising and everyone gets a bit more excitable.

 

[Teila]

Howdy Hatching

I have two 10 week old pullets who are still securely attached to mum.

She hatched 5 and the 3 boys were rehomed at 6 weeks of age. Even at 2-3 weeks of age the little boys were constantly challenging and chest bumping each other.

The little girls joined in occasionally but you could see that they were really not that interested.

After the boys were rehomed, there was no challenging and chest bumping up until this week when the girls started doing pretty much what yours are, small challenges, nothing serious.

One of them accidentally challenged Mum when they were running around being silly, Mum just raised a few feathers and gave her ‘that look’ .. instantly you could see the little one “oooh, sorry Mum, didn’t mean it!” .. so cute!

I think my two are establishing who is going to be the more dominant between themselves but as we started free range integration this week with the rest of the flock; they are now having to work out who is going to be top of the bottom