chick behavior

[buckaroo's wife]

My chicks will be 4 weeks this weekend.....I have a few doing the "dance" - you know it....the chest bump, flapping wings dance......I'm thinking Roos? Please tell me they're just playing?!?

 

[nanawendy]

May they are roos playing.... But really, isn't that just the cutest thing

 

[buckaroo's wife]

It is....except I don't need this many roos!

 

[Hoosierchickens]

I read that the top ranking pullet will do this with the rooster too until they hit "puberty." At this stage I wonder if they may also be working out the pecking order more aggressively too. I have 12 chicks that are almost 4 weeks old too and I'm pretty certain about my two roos. One I'm 100% certain of based on appearance and behavior. I've watched several of the pullets do "the dance" with him from time to time but especially the dominate SLW pullet. The Sussex I highly suspect to be the roo is more passive/docile than the SLW roo but I've caught him alerting the others to danger a time or two and them all hushing and hunkering down. It's pretty fun to watch. He also appears a slightly lighter shade of brown, is larger than the others, and is feathering out much slower.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are not just playing, they are working out the pecking order. That behavior does not mean pullet or rooster. It could be either. You can get that behavior if they are all pullets.

I'm not saying they are definitely not roosters. They can be. I'm usually not real good at determining sex at four weeks, but some people on this forum are pretty good. You might try posting pictures to get some guesses.

How to post pictures/avatar
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26838