5 week old chicks - one very aggressive

[nuzmomto2]

We have 5 home grown chicks. At 4 weeks, one (MR. Rooster - because we are suspecting that he's a he) pecked some feathers off another one. We put in a divider screen and put him on the side by himself. We have allowed him some supervised time with the others, but he always ends up pecking at someone. The black one is usually his target, but he has pecked and sparred with a yellow one. Last night, he was happily eating with the two we think are ladies (while his usual victims were being held) and then decided to try to pull out one of their feathers!!!!

He appears to be an EE - is this "normal"? Is it an indication that he's a rooster as well as the other two he usuall picks on?
Most important question - is he a "bad bird"? ie - are we always going to have problems with him?
Are we doing the right thing in seperating him?

We've been noticing that the yellow chick and the black chick typically will stand tall and spur with one another. Do both sexes of chickens do this???? Our speckled hen has no interest in it, but we've seen our gray chick join in at times, but not very aggressively. They yellow and the black chicks just do a bunch of flapping and tall standing - no feather losses.

The chicks have lots of room and fresh water/food every day (usually twice a day). They also receive lots of attention from my children. I just don't know what to expect from "normal" hen behavior versus rooster behavior.

Thanks for any help.

 

[mathmaven]

bump.

I wanna know too.

 

[The Tinman]

I had the same problem. I read somewhere if you have the lights on 24/7 the chicks will get moody and fight. So as long as the temp is ok I shut the lights off during the day and that seems to have solved the problem.

 

[Jaguaress]

 

[nuzmomto2]

Quote:
just an update - we don't have lights on 24/7. In fact, we don't have any artificial lights on now. The only light they receive is indirect sunlight. Our weather is warm enough, so we're not using a light.
The chicks are about 6 1/2 weeks old now and MR. Rooster continues to peck at the black chick whenever he feels like it. We gave them outside time yesterday and 90% of the time, he was fine. The other 10% was spent pecking at the black chick and, occassionally, the yellow chick. What I have noticed is that the yellow chick will stand up to him and "not take it", the black chick just squaks and runs away. He pretty much leaves the two suspected hens alone.

 

[looptloop]

Don't they start to establish the pecking order around 5-6 weeks?