Button bullies at 3-4 weeks?

[Bettacreek]

Well, I have five buttons that I bought as chicks from a breeder. I estimate that they were a week old when I got them (Jan 3rd). I think that some may have been late hatchers or from a different hatch, as two of them were behind in development. Now, I noticed that the two biggest buttons are beating the daylights out of the two smallest. I haven't noticed the other big one beating them up, but s/he may be as well. The two bullies are both whites, and just about fully feathered (they have a tiny mask around their eyes that is still baby fuzz), the other biggest is a silver, and again, almost fully feathered. The two little guys are what I believe are a red breasted silver male and a red breasted hen. What's going on? I'd like to keep them as a community to get mixed eggs from, but if worst comes to worse, I can seperate. These five guys are in a 20L tank, but certainly don't seem to be crowded. They still have a brooder light on them (75w lightbulb, on the top of the tank screen), plus they always have fresh water and fresh food (24% chick crumbles, plus the leftover parakeet food, plus they sometimes get mealworms and certain leftovers from our table).

 

[fisher man]

make sure you dont keep a regular light on them 24/7 becouse they will fight.put an apple in their to keep them intrested. when my roosters get in bad moods and start fighting i just put an apple in their and they stay interested in the apple and stop fighting.

 

[UrbanMama]

They may be starting to "mature" and the female to male ratio may not be high enough

But they do establish a pecking order, just like chickens.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, they don't need a light at this age. If the apple doesn't work, you could take the bullies out for a few days then put them back together, and see if that works.

 

[Bettacreek]

Awesome, I'm glad that I can remove that stupid light. I thought I had to wait until they were COMPLETELY feathered. I'll have to try the apple method then. Hopefully it's not a problem with sex ratio, but I guess if it is, I'll have to seperate for now, then when we can afford to, I'll have the perfect excuse to get more, lol.