Aggressive Buff Orpington

[Olive_Egger]

Just want to say ( your chicken may be a cockerel) but my Orpington (buff) is the meanest in the flock. She’s quite a bully! I’ve heard people saying that Orpington are the sweetest, but she sure isn’t! (Also definitely a hen, lays eggs and is 3 years old) she absolutely loves to bully the smaller chickens away from the feed. Oh well. (Even though she’s not even top of the pecking order) View attachment 2704098

I'll keep that in mind- seems like my BO could turn into a bit of a nightmare!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I'll keep that in mind- seems like my BO could turn into a bit of a nightmare!

I'm sure most Orpingtons are pretty friendly, Emily (my Orpington) is probably just a bit on the bold side of things. Sure, certain breeds can definitely be friendlier than others, but most of the time it just comes down to the specific bird.

 

[chickentrains]

My buff orpingtons are both jerks to the other hens, and only sometimes tolerate being around me. Yes, they're real sweet when they are in the mood, but otherwise forget I exist.

 

[SusanMc]

They seem well feathered too. I'm not sure you still need the brooder unless their nighttime enclosure temperature falls below 50-55°. If you remove the bigger items, put some smaller items in to break up sight lines, add some obstacles to slow pursuit when being chased, and offer hiding spaces with multiple entrances/exits to give a girl a place to hide without getting cornered if the BO is being a Big B.

Good luck with your chicks!
I put a small box with 2 doors and a ramp to get to the top of the box, not sure if it helped all that much, but it gave them something to do anyways.

 

[Olive_Egger]

For some background info, I'm trying out raising backyard chickens to see how it goes. I have 6 chicks, all but two are different breeds. I have an Araucana, ISA Brown, Olive Egger, 2 Light Brahmas, and of course, a Buff Orpington.

My chicks are only about a month old so I don't know if I should be worrying about this, but my Buff Orpington is extremely aggressive. Everything I've read about the breed says they should be very calm and not at all what my Orpington is currently displaying. The chick will, unprovoked, run across her enclosure to attack another chicken, often causing the chicken to cry out and run away. I've noticed her especially doing this with our runt. None of our other chickens are doing this, and they don't seem to have a distinguished pecking order at all yet.

As a new chicken owner, I'm very perplexed and I cannot seem to figure out the cause for her aggressive behavior. Any answers/advice would be appreciated!

Today we got rid of the BO. Turned out to be a rooster. He got big, aggressive, and crowed every day. We tried a crow collar because where I live it’s illegal (although the barking dogs are just as loud). It wasn’t efficient enough so we had no choice but to get rid of him. It’s unfortunate, but I’m excited to add to the flock!