Thanks for the reply, Redsox. The pecking actually seemed benevolent and has not escalated over night and no sign of it continuing this morning. I actually spotted a couple of other chicks that have a reddish area behind their ear that looks a bit like a developing "lobe" of some sort? I need to...
I just noticed that one of my 11 week old Buff Orpington pullets was allowing her neighbors on either side to peck at her ear area. She stood very still and let it continue until I interrupted. Not bloody (yet) but definitely sore looking on both sides. First photo is a pic of her darker ear...
I am lucky that roos are not a problem for our location but but I now seem to have at least 3 out of 20 chicks that are cockerels (I'm still wondering about a couple others) and I will have concerns for that ratio of roos to hens as they mature. Both the cockerel EEs have just gorgeous coloring!
This is an 8 week old Easter Egger, Petunia, who was supposed to sexed as a female and I'm concerned at the recent reddening of her comb as well as being able to count three rows of peas.
Ditto for this one, Violet, same age, but darker coloring. 3 rows of peas and even darker comb!
Less...
Thanks for that note about roos! I'm hoping to keep all if they continue to stay within acceptable behaviors. I actually would want good behavior from the hens too! Ha! Luckily, I am not in an area that prohibits Roosters so it will be interesting to keep all remaining. As soon as I figure out...
My four EEs, 8 weeks old, are all flower names:
Petunia (on the white side with beautiful markings)
Myrtle (whitest of all)
Violet (dark gray with gorgeous brown body feathers mixed in...suspected male)
Buttercup (lighter gray)
Hi, I guess it is about time I join BYC since I've been reading so much good info here and felt like a stalker. My chicks will be 8 weeks old on Monday. I started out with 21 (3 were freebies from the hatchery) day old chicks (ordered as females) that I picked up at a local hatchery and all...