I have 5 chickens
2 buff orps
1 austrolorp
2 Cochins
Well about a week ago I have not been able to really hold any of them except my 2 Cochins. Well now that is the least of my worries.
About 2 days ago I notice st my oldest chick (my buff) has started becoming aggressive. I think she's about 2 1/2 weeks old now. Not sure why she grew up so much faster than my other birds who are also large breeds. :/ She has been the most flighty and was the first one to start flapping around and working all the other chicks up. Well now she has directed her attitude towards my austrolorp. I'm not sure what is normal pecking order and what is mean behavior so I will describe a couple of situations.
Sometimes she will flap her wings, jump and peck the austrolorp she'll sort of drop down kind of like this
she's done this to me a few times in the past but I figured she was just scared of my intruding hand. Well now she ill do it and kind of jump around my other bird almost like she is egging the other one on.
She will even fly to the other side of the brooder where the austrolorp is and jump on her and start pecking her then they will make their way into some type of boxing ring where they walk in a circle but its usually the buff that pecks and sometimes the austrolorp will peck back in defense.
A few moments ago I was recording them. The buff was eating from the feeder and the austrolorp was going to walk by, but when she saw the orp look at her she stop literally in her tracks and waited for my buff to turn her head then she proceeded to run. And when she did the buff pecked her and scared her. I would post this video but i have no idea how.
I hope this doesn't sound silly, I'm just not sure whats aggressive and what normal pecking order play. My fiancé makes fun of me for stressing over a couple baby chicks but I want my flock to me friendly and docile, which is why I spent forever finding the nicest breeds. I'm not sure if I should return her to the breeder, who is very nice and understanding, or if I should just wait it out and deal with it. I just hate to spend so much time on trying to make a bird nice. While I have some that are just naturally sweet. I also need to decide while they are all still fairly small so that if needed I could get another cochin or 2
Thanks in advance!
2 buff orps
1 austrolorp
2 Cochins
Well about a week ago I have not been able to really hold any of them except my 2 Cochins. Well now that is the least of my worries.
About 2 days ago I notice st my oldest chick (my buff) has started becoming aggressive. I think she's about 2 1/2 weeks old now. Not sure why she grew up so much faster than my other birds who are also large breeds. :/ She has been the most flighty and was the first one to start flapping around and working all the other chicks up. Well now she has directed her attitude towards my austrolorp. I'm not sure what is normal pecking order and what is mean behavior so I will describe a couple of situations.
Sometimes she will flap her wings, jump and peck the austrolorp she'll sort of drop down kind of like this
She will even fly to the other side of the brooder where the austrolorp is and jump on her and start pecking her then they will make their way into some type of boxing ring where they walk in a circle but its usually the buff that pecks and sometimes the austrolorp will peck back in defense.
A few moments ago I was recording them. The buff was eating from the feeder and the austrolorp was going to walk by, but when she saw the orp look at her she stop literally in her tracks and waited for my buff to turn her head then she proceeded to run. And when she did the buff pecked her and scared her. I would post this video but i have no idea how.
I hope this doesn't sound silly, I'm just not sure whats aggressive and what normal pecking order play. My fiancé makes fun of me for stressing over a couple baby chicks but I want my flock to me friendly and docile, which is why I spent forever finding the nicest breeds. I'm not sure if I should return her to the breeder, who is very nice and understanding, or if I should just wait it out and deal with it. I just hate to spend so much time on trying to make a bird nice. While I have some that are just naturally sweet. I also need to decide while they are all still fairly small so that if needed I could get another cochin or 2
Thanks in advance!