Aggressive 3 week old male chick?

[CowgirlPenny]

We've always gotten roosters as adults, Never raised one from a chick so I have no idea what is normal behavior for a known male chick.


Our 3 week old Welsummer boy has been picking a LOT of fights the last three days. He seems to be always fighting with our Buff Brahma chick (who is female) but will really just start with anyone. It lasts several minutes multiple times a day. They seem to always be "tense" because he's just standing over them ready to flog them at any moment. Their brooder is plenty big enough. The others can happily be scratching minding their own business and he'll just start for no apparent reason.

Is this a bad sign that I am going to have an aggressive rooster?
Is this normal male CHICK behavior?

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Gosh, that's a tough one. Not sure this helps but I'll toss in my two cents worth.

I started with 4 day old chicks. Were supposed to all be hens but the Cuckoo Marans turned out to be a roo. But he was not the issue. It was a female Easter Egger. Who was constantly challenging the other chicks and chest bumping. The others would sort of play along but the Buff Orpington would run and the EE would chase and chase her around the brooder until she caught her and delivered a big peck.

Well, I thought it was cute and that they would just sort it out. But that behavior developed into the EE bullying the BO as they grew up. I thought I had a handle on the situation and would spray the EE when I caught her being naughty. This went on for a year until we went on vacation and had a pet sitter. Well, the EE KNEW I was gone and bullied that BO almost to death. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink and it forced her into an early and hard molt.

I gave away the EE immediately once I returned and discovered the scene. The BO was terrified. I even took her to the vet because she was refusing to eat. I had to pull her aside and hand feed her scrambled egg and meal worms for weeks until she would eat on her own.

Today, she's 2 1/2 years old and a troubled little bird. I only have 6 hens so I can pretty easily monitor my situation. But she is not like the others. And I blame this on the fact that she was bullied for that first year.

I've read that bullies cannot be reformed and need to be re-homed or sent to freezer camp.

I don't know if that helps or not. But if I had to do this all over again, I would have punted on that EE and done something ALOT sooner than I did. I also felt that bird did not see well and maybe that contributed to her aggressiveness. Either way, once you have an aggressive bird, I find it unlikely that they will mellow with age.

 

[donrae]

I've never noticed a real difference in behavior pre-adolescece. Some girls are Mean Girls, some boys are...well.....not so masculine.