Brand new to chickens here. I got 5 pullets from a farm two days ago. The Ameraucana is, I believe, about 6 months old. The rest are about 3 months. Within their first 20 minutes in my coop/run, it was clear that the Ameraucana was staking her claim at the top of the pecking order. Or that's what I'm assuming. She pecks and pushes others away from the food. She doesn't seem to attack anybody just out of the blue though. The first day & night, I noticed she was the only one up on the roost in the coop. the other 4 crammed themselves into one nesting box to sleep. At first I figured they just weren't into the whole roosting thing yet, since they were younger. But then last night (day 2) I watched as both my Dominique and Orpington tried to hop onto a roost, just to have the Ameraucana peck at them and bully them off.
So my questions... is this just temporary while they figure out their pecking order? Will they eventually roost together? Does it maybe not have to do with that and have to do with the age difference instead?
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm feeling totally baffled by these peculiar creatures I've come to own. Halp.
So my questions... is this just temporary while they figure out their pecking order? Will they eventually roost together? Does it maybe not have to do with that and have to do with the age difference instead?
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm feeling totally baffled by these peculiar creatures I've come to own. Halp.