Baby Roo Behavior

[chicken pickin]

I was spending time with my 4 week old marans chicks 1 being a roo (I keep telling my kids he is not going to be staying) but I think Im getting attatched to him myself lol. He snuggles with me all the time and he is the first to fly up to perch on me. So far as a baby he is a sweet boy. What I found very cute and interesting was today as they were perched on the side of the brooder he was preening the other chicks. Is that normal behavior for a chick? None of my other chickens have ever done that or is it maybe a good sign that he will be a good roo taking care of his ladies. Im very fond of him and think I want to try my hands at a roo in the flock. I was going to wait til spring and get Ameraucanas 1 being a roo. But I may hang on to this little guy. What are your thoughts on roo chick behavior does it stay similar or change drastically as they grow?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

I was spending time with my 4 week old marans chicks 1 being a roo (I keep telling my kids he is not going to be staying) but I think Im getting attatched to him myself lol. He snuggles with me all the time and he is the first to fly up to perch on me. So far as a baby he is a sweet boy. What I found very cute and interesting was today as they were perched on the side of the brooder he was preening the other chicks. Is that normal behavior for a chick? None of my other chickens have ever done that or is it maybe a good sign that he will be a good roo taking care of his ladies. Im very fond of him and think I want to try my hands at a roo in the flock. I was going to wait til spring and get Ameraucanas 1 being a roo. But I may hang on to this little guy. What are your thoughts on roo chick behavior does it stay similar or change drastically as they grow?

Perching is normal for chicks but they each gravitate towards it at their own pace. If one is perching on the edge of the box, you can expect others to follow suit soon. I would put a roost in the brooder box for them because roosting is a normal behavior that you want to encourage since they will be moving to a coop one day and you'll want them on the roosts, not the floor or nest boxes.
As far as behavior goes, I have listened to many a story of a sweet little roos growing up to be aggressive, but that is not true of every one and there is no way of knowing how they will turn out in advance, unfortunately.

 

[chicken pickin]

Perching is normal for chicks but they each gravitate towards it at their own pace. If one is perching on the edge of the box, you can expect others to follow suit soon. I would put a roost in the brooder box for them because roosting is a normal behavior that you want to encourage since they will be moving to a coop one day and you'll want them on the roosts, not the floor or nest boxes.
As far as behavior goes, I have listened to many a story of a sweet little roos growing up to be aggressive, but that is not true of every one and there is no way of knowing how they will turn out in advance, unfortunately.

Lol. Not the perching on the brooder. All my chicks did that and I have a roost in the brooder for them. I was wondering if the roo preening the other chicks feathers was normal?