Another stupid question from gritsar

[gritsar]

Yep, it's 2:30 in the morning and I have a question. I could ask the SO this one I s'pose, and get a perfectly reasonable answer, but #1. it would be based on the commercial houses and #2. it would be way too long an answer

I've been looking at pics of baby chicks on Ideal's site...already looked at all the ones here...and I got to thinking. I've been told that in the commercial chicken industry they cull any black chicks because the yellow chicks would only peck a black one to death. In fact, the SO once told me that if you were to throw just about anything black or dark color into the middle of a commercial house, the chickens would at first scatter, then they would come and try to 'destroy' it. So, what happens when I order a mixed batch of light, dark, and buff brahmas? Will I have to seperate the chicks that aren't the typical yellow color? I noticed that the dark brahma chicks especially tend to be marked with at least some black.

Thanks, I think I've reached my stupid question quota for the year.

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

We bought some EE's from Blisschick and three of them were black . They have shown no signs of abuse and one has become the dominate roo in that group! Not sure about commercial operations but our black chics are doing well. By the way they have grown into some beautiful colored chickens with green highlights when they are in the sun.

 

[karmical]

My mix of light and dark chicks wasn't a problem...the black ones didn't get singled out as "targets" at all. I only have 7 total though...don't know if it might make a difference if you have a large number like at a commercial operation.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I had a mix of light and black chicks and there was no problem. I had 16 in all.

 

[palabeco]

Is that why my chickens wouldn't take bread from my hand yesterday, cause I was wearing black gloves?

 

[gritsar]

*whew* that's a relief. Like I said, I'd rather ask the stupid questions now, then to be sorry later. The SO is great about general chicken questions, but again since his family were commercial growers things were very different. Thank goodness the houses are gone now or I wouldn't be permitted to have backyard chickens. The farmer that leases our pastureland also has commercial houses on his property. Can you imagine what a quarter of a million dollar chicken coop would look like? That's what his 6 new houses cost a piece. I forget how many chickens they house.

 

[Dawn419]

Quote:
It very well could be the reason. I've noticed our flock can get upset when I wear a certain pair of sweatpants out in the run. Sounds silly, I'm sure, but it's true.

Dawn

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens do react to anything different than they're used to, not necessarily just because it's darker. Yesterday, I put several chicks from the brooder out into the nursery coop. One of the newbies was blue as opposed to black or black and white barred. My "cockerel in charge" chick relentlessly picked on that one, chasing it, making it scream in its little chick voice till I put it back in the brooder till it was larger. The only reason I could see was that it was dark blue and not some form of black, but then again, he was not brooded with any of the newbies, either. They don't seem to see any differences in color when they are in the same brooder, raised together. Later on, they do seem to pal around with like colors and/or breeds.