3-week old chick bully

[SillyMissLily]

This is my seventh year raising chickens and this one is a first for me...

I ordered 16 chicks from a small breeder online and with extras got a total of 18. Breeds are Ameraucanas, Olive Eggers, and Jubilee Orpington. All but the Orps and one splash are dark: black, blue, and some barreds. They are JUST past the 3-week birthdate and growing fast so separated into 3 large tote-bins for more room.

One bin had the orps and two black ameraucanas and an olive egger. Jubilee Orpingtons are yellow fuzzies to start, then growing in darker feathers. One day I notice chick squeals of distress and the olive egger is going after an orpington. This kept happening throughout the day until I realized all three, olive egger and both orps have red marks all over their faces. I put bad chick into a different bin and the only little splash chick then became the brunt of aggression. Switch bins again so now it's in with all darks and seems to be okay.

What's going on here?? It's not starting fights with the dark-colored chicks...

My friend joked that maybe it's a racist chick that hates all the light colored peeps.
I have no idea. Doesn't seem to be a spatial issue, but maybe?...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your chicks are getting too old and vigorous for totes. They need room to run, jump and flap their wings. Aggression at their age is from boredom and crowding.

 

[chickens really]

I'd get them outside to begin the life of a Chicken. Sounds like over crowded and boredom.

 

[Chickassan]

Chickens are racist don't kid yourself, they are.
In this case racial tension is compounded by close quarters filled with ever increasing energy.
At three weeks they're wanting to zip around, flap wings and run wild.
You know, these aren't your first babies just your first heathen babies.

 

[SillyMissLily]

Ugh, I know it sounds like I'm being a bad chicken owner, but the only available covered run the chicks would be safe in is currently being used to break broodies. I once left a group of chicks - just a bit older than these - in a fenced garden plot, went in the house for all of a half hour, and a raven nabbed one and scattered the rest. I can't repeat that.

I am giving them several hours of supervised outing a day, and I'm sure that's not enough, but the "heathen" separated from the light-colored chicks seems to be working. Just a day or so more for this last broody and they can have some freedom!

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Any appliance stores near you? Maybe you can find some big cardboard boxes to make larger separate brooders?

Also saw a genious idea on here awhile ago about joining up several large boxes by cutting doorways between them - might give your chicks more to explore?

 

[SillyMissLily]

Any appliance stores near you? Maybe you can find some big cardboard boxes to make larger separate brooders?

Also saw a genious idea on here awhile ago about joining up several large boxes by cutting doorways between them - might give your chicks more to explore?

Sheesh, why didn't I think of that? Thank you so much! 'Think outside the box,' right?

 

[Sea Wolf]

I've taken several cardboard boxes, taped them together and cut connecting holes. Makes a kind of chick maze. I also put a plastic shower curtain under my box configurations before putting shavings and the chicks in. Keeps moisture from wicking through to the floor below. It also helps for easier cleanup when they get moved outside. The chicks get used to exploring and they aren't all just staring at each other all day.

 

[AuntieWeasel]

I've done the multiple cardboard boxes thing, too. I didn't have any large boxes, so as they grew, I'd cut a door and put another box at right angles. It seemed to work well.

And chickens are absolutely racist. I keep a small flock and only add to it by twos and threes. It's striking, if I have more than one of any colour, how the mille fleurs hang with the mille fleurs and the lavenders with the lavenders. The question is: how do they know what colour they themselves are?

 

[FowlWitch]

And chickens are absolutely racist. I keep a small flock and only add to it by twos and threes. It's striking, if I have more than one of any colour, how the mille fleurs hang with the mille fleurs and the lavenders with the lavenders. The question is: how do they know what colour they themselves are?

Maybe it's like how wild birds know who to mate with - some kind of genetics causes them to form a preference for certain physical features.