5 week old chicks fight when they see me

[Chxlove]

My 2 olive eggers who are siblings are 5 weeks old, my barred rock (likely a roo) is just under that, and 2 buff Orpingtons are 4 weeks. The olive eggers have always been the biggest due to their age, but now they are significantly bigger than the others. It seems like every time they see me, they fight. They don't draw blood and don't peck too much, it's usually just the chest puffing, jumping, chasing, and stare downs, but at times they try to finish the fight with one peck. They're in a large kiddie pool (1 of them stacked on top of another) so I think they have enough space. No one ever fights for food, water, or roosting space. I often lay my hand down to feed them and they'll jump in my hand, sometimes crawl up my arm all the way to the top and just hang out. One of the olive eggers now almost immediately flies up to my arm when I put it in there even without food in my hand. She'll hang out there for a few seconds, her sister comes by acting tough, then she jumps down and they fight. Now it almost seems like when they see me, they run up to me, but start fighting even before I do anything. I can't tell if they are trying to intimidate me, or using me as a way to establish dominance within their pecking order? It's usually just the 2 olive eggers but the BR gets involved too at times. The buffs just run away peeping. I can't tell yet if the olives are roos or hens but their combs aren't defined at all or started to change color at all. Is this all just normal pecking order behavior? Should I stop putting my arm in by them to eat from or perch on? (I was doing it to try to keep them used to me and okay with being handled). Their pool is too big for me to catch them to pick them up by myself because they run around scared and they're too quick. So i thought this may be the next best way but I don't want to be causing them to be aggressive. They've been raised together since they were 4-10 days old.
Here are the olive eggers.

 

[aart]

It seems like every time they see me, they fight. They don't draw blood and don't peck too much, it's usually just the chest puffing, jumping, chasing, and stare downs, but at times they try to finish the fight with one peck.

Typical...they are just sparring/playing.
They probably do it when you are not there too.

When will they go out to the coop?
They'll need more space soon, if not now.

 

[Kriscam]

My 2 olive eggers who are siblings are 5 weeks old, my barred rock (likely a roo) is just under that, and 2 buff Orpingtons are 4 weeks. The olive eggers have always been the biggest due to their age, but now they are significantly bigger than the others. It seems like every time they see me, they fight. They don't draw blood and don't peck too much, it's usually just the chest puffing, jumping, chasing, and stare downs, but at times they try to finish the fight with one peck. They're in a large kiddie pool (1 of them stacked on top of another) so I think they have enough space. No one ever fights for food, water, or roosting space. I often lay my hand down to feed them and they'll jump in my hand, sometimes crawl up my arm all the way to the top and just hang out. One of the olive eggers now almost immediately flies up to my arm when I put it in there even without food in my hand. She'll hang out there for a few seconds, her sister comes by acting tough, then she jumps down and they fight. Now it almost seems like when they see me, they run up to me, but start fighting even before I do anything. I can't tell if they are trying to intimidate me, or using me as a way to establish dominance within their pecking order? It's usually just the 2 olive eggers but the BR gets involved too at times. The buffs just run away peeping. I can't tell yet if the olives are roos or hens but their combs aren't defined at all or started to change color at all. Is this all just normal pecking order behavior? Should I stop putting my arm in by them to eat from or perch on? (I was doing it to try to keep them used to me and okay with being handled). Their pool is too big for me to catch them to pick them up by myself because they run around scared and they're too quick. So i thought this may be the next best way but I don't want to be causing them to be aggressive. They've been raised together since they were 4-10 days old.
Here are the olive eggers.
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Thank you for this post! I'm having exactly the same experience with my 4 week olds. They have all the recommended space in their brooder and I even added more. The heartbreaking aspect of this is the sweetest of the chicks is really jumpy and cowers from the most aggressive chick. I've been dying to get them outside during the day for supervised outings but it is still too cold here. Maybe we need to install some kind of camera to watch their behavior when we are not there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for this post! I'm having exactly the same experience with my 4 week olds. They have all the recommended space in their brooder and I even added more. The heartbreaking aspect of this is the sweetest of the chicks is really jumpy and cowers from the most aggressive chick. I've been dying to get them outside during the day for supervised outings but it is still too cold here. Maybe we need to install some kind of camera to watch their behavior when we are not there.

How big is your brooder and what's all in it, if anything?

How cold is it (during an average day) that you can't take them outside for short outings?

 

[Kriscam]

I found this today that might help answer the question about whether they display that behavior at times when you/we aren't there. https://swimduchess.com/products/po...Vkfv0dMDBxhY47BuDb8Fi6IDBrwPYAm8vcIxspKbNGCDw

 

[Kriscam]

How big is your brooder and what's all in it, if anything?

How cold is it (during an average day) that you can't take them outside for short outings?

My wooden brooder box is 4'x4' for four chicks, and I recently added another 4' x 2' section, and both are 24" tall. I've been reducing the heat by 5 degrees a week as recommended. They sleep together under the lamp, but spend quite a bit of time away from it. They have food & water that I've kept adjusting to keep up with their height, a mirror, a low roost, a high roost (4.5") a dust bath, a toy xylophone, beads and bells strung along one side. They have a ramp on both sides of the wall between the sections, which they LOVE! They are down to 70 degrees in their brooder, but we've had a cold spell and daily temps in the past week have been in the 40's and 50's with high winds. I'm going to pitch our bug tent, which has no bottom so they can play in the grass, but keeps them corralled and protected. I thought I would put a heater out there in case it's too cold for them, and maybe a heating pad on the floor of their carrier. I'll try to take them out if it stays 60 degrees for awhile. The concerning chick has always seemed almost manic, and the timid one is just very sweet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My wooden brooder box is 4'x4' for four chicks, and I recently added another 4' x 2' section, and both are 24" tall. I've been reducing the heat by 5 degrees a week as recommended. They have food & water that I've kept adjusting to keep up with their height, a mirror, a low roost, a high roost (4.5") a dust bath, a toy xylophone, beads and bells strung along one side. They have a ramp on both sides of the wall between the sections, which they LOVE! They are down to 70 degrees in their brooder, but we've had a cold spell and daily temps in the past week have been in the 40's and 50's with high winds. I'm going to pitch our bug tent, which has no bottom so they can play in the grass, but keeps them corralled and protected. I thought I would put a heater out there in case it's too cold for them, and maybe a heating pad on the floor of their carrier. I'll try to take them out if it stays 60 degrees for awhile. The concerning chick has always seemed almost manic, and the timid one is just very sweet.

That's a very good size brooder, so I'm surprised they're fussing so much.

So they're around 5 weeks old right now, if I did the math right? You can be a lot more aggressive on lowering the temperature by the way, I don't buy into the 5 degrees a week, I think it's too conservative (I'd go maybe 7-8 degrees every 5 days or so). Assuming my age guess is right, 60F with shelter from the wind, in relatively short visits (like 1 hour) is very doable to help acclimate them outdoors, even without supplemental heat.

 

[Coops Dad]

I'm in central Texas and our 3/3 hatch chicks went into our outdoor brooder on 3/27/21. They were 3 weeks plus a few days old. Our outdoor brooder is basically a 6' x 12' chicken tractor with a 2' deep x 2' tall x 4' long coop built onto the side with a hinged bottom to make cleaning easy.

They huddled for warmth at night and run, scratch, eat, sunbathe and play all day. If the temps aren't too cool, once they're nicy feathered- BOOM- outside they go.

And yes, our new dog really really wants to eat all the chickens.

 

[Chxlove]

Thanks everyone! We are kicking it into high gear to get the coop ready. I'm hoping they'll be outside within a week to week and a half. We haven't had time to fence in the run yet otherwise the coop without the run is basically ready. I've been unsure because I'm in WI where temps have only been in the 50's during the day and down to low 30's at night. My buffs don't seem fully feathered yet but close, but I think I'm being overly cautious.

Also comparing my brooder to setup to Kriscam's, wow! My chicks are clearly bored. They have 1 roost that they all fit on, and last week I introduced a treat stick and some grit. They're not loving the treat but do love the grit. They mostly used the brooder plate to roost and poop on and I wanted to get them used to less heat so I took that out (also for more space). Now I feel guilty they'll be in there another week! Any suggestions on what I can do to help them be entertained? Mostly they seem to spend their time digging for larger wood pieces in the pine shavings and chasing each other around.

 

[rosemarythyme]

We haven't had time to fence in the run yet otherwise the coop without the run is basically ready.

You don't need the run to be finished, just the coop, provided it's big enough to safely house the chicks around the clock for a week or two. Just moving into a new location will be "entertaining" because it'll be something completely new to them and they'll busy themselves with exploring.