At the end of my rope with 3 1/2 week-old chick.

[thecatumbrella]

I've posted about Tilly, my sexed female Frizzle Mottled Cochin Bantam, before. Her energy levels have been off the charts since Day 1. That's not the problem.

She's a jerk to me and my husband.

We spend lots of gentle, calm time with our chicks. Slow and careful handling. "Bite" training with yelps and appropriate peck corrections. Now we're getting "attacked" (if you can call it that from something as small as a mouse) in the brooder. She postures and bites when I need to remove another chick for its vitamin treatment. Postures and bites when I clean shavings out of the food (I wait until she's under the plate, but she'll come out for a confrontation). Every bite gets her picked up, carried around, and bopped on the head.

My other two chicks are Silkies, and it's starting to affect my interactions with them. Seeing Tilly get constant corrections, snatched out of the air, listening to her constant cries as she's carried around in punishment... they're becoming fearful of us, because why wouldn't they?!

I have a sneaking suspicion that Tilly's a roo. I mean, she grew little wattles at two weeks-old.

Any advice? Has any re-homed a young chick before? We're about to hit 4 weeks of this BS. I'm leery of going down to two chicks for the integration period; if anything, Tilly is a nice buffer chick between the Silkies and the older Cochin Bantams. But I'm starting to feel done with this bird.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Can you share a picture? Some chicks are just more vigorous. I would just block it when it approaches. Sometimes handling them too much makes them too forward.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Today I placed fresh shavings in my brooder coop and my 18 bantams that range from 5 - 8 weeks scampered around my boots being curious. But without any signs of aggression. I don’t make a habit of treating chickens or turkeys like puppies or kittens though.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Can you share a picture? Some chicks are just more vigorous. I would just block it when it approaches. Sometimes handling them too much makes them too forward.

Pics attached from this morning. 3 weeks 6 days old.

Other than her taking the walk of shame after a hard bite, I only handle for health reasons or transport. I do try to desensitize them to hands in the brooder so that they're not petrified of us (with hand cleaning instead of using tools, or tapping on their food/water/toys to encourage wanted behaviors). The shy Silkies seem to benefit from it, but it does give Tilly more opportunities to misbehave.

Thanks for your help.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Pics attached from this morning. 3 weeks 6 days old.

Other than her taking the walk of shame after a hard bite, I only handle for health reasons or transport. I do try to desensitize them to hands in the brooder so that they're not petrified of us (with hand cleaning instead of using tools, or tapping on their food/water/toys to encourage wanted behaviors). The shy Silkies seem to benefit from it, but it does give Tilly more opportunities to misbehave.

Thanks for your help.

It's very adorable, and looks like a tyrant. If it's a male the comb will generally turn pink than red by 5 weeks.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pics attached from this morning. 3 weeks 6 days old.

Other than her taking the walk of shame after a hard bite, I only handle for health reasons or transport. I do try to desensitize them to hands in the brooder so that they're not petrified of us (with hand cleaning instead of using tools, or tapping on their food/water/toys to encourage wanted behaviors). The shy Silkies seem to benefit from it, but it does give Tilly more opportunities to misbehave.

Thanks for your help.

With that comb, I'd be very suspicious of male.

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

I've posted about Tilly, my sexed female Frizzle Mottled Cochin Bantam, before. Her energy levels have been off the charts since Day 1. That's not the problem.

She's a jerk to me and my husband.

Oh I've had one of those! I had an ISA Brown that I raised from day one that was an absolute you know what. She was almost overly friendly, but so aggressive about it that it was painful!

I can't remember how old she was when I finally rehomed her, but she was still quite a young pullet. I couldn't take any more. I was scared to go into the coop. She would constantly jump up to peck at my hands and fly at my face, trying to land on my shoulder. I should clarify that our chickens are very spoiled but they are livestock, not pets. I don't feed them out of my hand, and I prefer they clear the way for me whenever I'm doing chicken duties unless I call them.

She was definitely a pullet. Neighbor who took her got a lot of eggs from her and was a hands-off chicken owner. He let his rooster deal with her bad behavior, which he said calmed her down a lot.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Oh I've had one of those! I had an ISA Brown that I raised from day one that was an absolute you know what. She was almost overly friendly, but so aggressive about it that it was painful!

I can't remember how old she was when I finally rehomed her, but she was still quite a young pullet. I couldn't take any more. I was scared to go into the coop. She would constantly jump up to peck at my hands and fly at my face, trying to land on my shoulder. I should clarify that our chickens are very spoiled but they are livestock, not pets. I don't feed them out of my hand, and I prefer they clear the way for me whenever I'm doing chicken duties unless I call them.

She was definitely a pullet. Neighbor who took her got a lot of eggs from her and was a hands-off chicken owner. He let his rooster deal with her bad behavior, which he said calmed her down a lot.

Ugh, thank you for relating! We already rehomed her (with her two sisters for company, of course). I find a lot of personality carries from hatch to adulthood, and I just didn't want to deal with it in an enclosed pen. Your description of "overly friend, but so aggressive about it" is SPOT ON!

My chickens act petrified of me unless I'm trying to get something done in pen. Then we're suddenly besties, and I need lots of hands-on (beaks-on?) assistance.

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

I don't know if it's an ISA breed thing or just her, but I can tell you that I've never wanted another one!