the pecking order has begun.and it is really stressing me out.

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WOW centrarchid!!!
That is quite the sight! And you say they do this for long periods of time? And Mom doesnt seem too concerned as far as I could see from the vid which is crazy, LOL What a great early sexing tool though!
Well my flock is much smaller, a littler older, and while the aggression isnt as intense, Im pretty sure I saw some similar fighting tactics used, LOL It seems your just letting it run its course? How many die if any as a result of this?
 
I tried integrating my chicks ,pullets and year old chickens in there pen, it did not work. I let everyone out in the yard and all went well except for one hen. she went ballistic, so I pulled up a chair and every time she even went near or looked at the smaller birds I tapped her with a stick lightly on her bum.with in 15 minutes they were all free ranging and no problems. I have a separate pen with in the big pen for the pullets and the 2 babies are with mama , well not really she pretty much decided they knew everything and is laying again lol. trying to integrate 3 different ages has not been hard in the yard, so in a few weeks of this I plan to put pullets on a roost inside the coop and try seeing if all goes well. right now the babies are with mama on the big roost, the pullets are in a huge crate at night inside the coop in there own pen during the day while I work. I can not wait until everyone is all together permanently and I can stop fussing about with all of them so much.
 
KimKimWilliamso said:
WOW centrarchid!!!
That is quite the sight! And you say they do this for long periods of time? And Mom doesnt seem too concerned as far as I could see from the vid which is crazy, LOL What a great early sexing tool though!
Well my flock is much smaller, a littler older, and while the aggression isnt as intense, Im pretty sure I saw some similar fighting tactics used, LOL It seems your just letting it run its course? How many die if any as a result of this?
Click to expand...
I can not say I have ever lost any from outright fighting at this age and litterally thousands have done it over more than 3 decades of my care. Losses incurred when worn out chicks can not escape predators of while fighting they are not aware they are being stalked. Once in a great while real eye damage occurs. What can cause problems is where once winners and loosers have picked themselves out, the loosers can not back away from dominants and dominants can cause real damage. This can occur sometimes even with production breeds in confinement. I do let it run its course but increase efforts for anti-predator management and will expect to pickup combatents at about dark to put them up in roost because many will be so exhuasted as to be flightless when balance can fly 10 feet vertically by this point in developement.

Mom is stressed by whole affair.

Sexing within this line just as reliable based on featering, male specific feather types are already evident on wings, neck and body.
 
karlamaria - i have a similar approach as far as integrating. Since the day I acquired the additional chicks (the SLW and the BR) I have had them in the same run as the older chicks, but in an XPEN, so that they could be seen, but safe from attack. Then at night I put the younger chicks in a cat carrier in the coop, and the older chicks roost in the coop. Until today I had never seen the older chicks pay any attention to younger ones. but shortly after I removed my BO from the attack, I put the smaller chicks in the XPEN out in the run, and the EE and the Roo paced the edge of that cage frantically for as long as I watched! I was worried they would hop right in (its about 4 feet hight) and eat the babes! LOL But I checked again an hour or so ago, and they seem to have lost interest. Im worried my SLW will be a roo, in which case I will have to choose who to keep.........when the younger chicks are a little larger I will release them and try your stick trick, LOL
 

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