Chick Picking on another Chick Mercilessly

[Fairview01]

Yep, some say to separate...I say Cull...

This time out thing. How does a chicken associate unacceptable behavior in the flock with being separated as a form of discipline. Really. I chuckle every time I read it. Chickens do have brain cells but I doubt they have the ability of causal /effect thinking especially when the immediate behavior before being given a time out is being chased around the run or coop by the owner.

I have had livestock animals all my life and have just recently started keeping chickens. From my experiences certain chicks hatch aggressive, nearly cannibals favoring the flesh of the other chicks. Imo it is a genetic thing. A throwback to the days of jungle fowl when this type of behavior was actually a benefit to survival but not in the domestic flock.

 

[aart]

How does a chicken associate unacceptable behavior in the flock with being separated as a form of discipline.

They don't.
'Time out' in chickeneering is not the same as with humans.
What it does is stop the beating immediately and can break the pecking order,
when 'bad' bird is reintroduced, depending on length of time out, it's lower in the order. There's no guarantee but it can be quite effective, especially with very young birds.

 

[Fairview01]

They don't.
'Time out' in chickeneering is not the same as with humans.
What it does is stop the beating immediately and can break the pecking order,
when 'bad' bird is reintroduced, depending on length of time out, it's lower in the order. There's no guarantee but it can be quite effective, especially with very young birds.

Well damn, I guilty of giving one of my chickens a time out then. Had a juvenile start on a holy tear, actually killed a couple. I took it out of his little flock and chunked him into another flock where the lowest ranking chicken makes it her mission to let any newcomer know they are not above her. She wore that juvenile thin chasing and pecking and just generally being rough. I didn't care. My only option was to destroy it so I wasn't going to suffer any loses if she did it for me. After six weeks when things had settled down I put him back with his original flock and it started all over again.

He's still a bit aggressive but not a sociopath like he was before.

 

[aart]

When you move one bird from one group/flock to another you are starting the integration/pecking order process all over again.
That not quite the same as a time out.
You've got to look at the many aspects of the whole situation when managing flock populations and behaviors.

 

[chickens really]

This time out thing. How does a chicken associate unacceptable behavior in the flock with being separated as a form of discipline. Really. I chuckle every time I read it. Chickens do have brain cells but I doubt they have the ability of causal /effect thinking especially when the immediate behavior before being given a time out is being chased around the run or coop by the owner.

I have had livestock animals all my life and have just recently started keeping chickens. From my experiences certain chicks hatch aggressive, nearly cannibals favoring the flesh of the other chicks. Imo it is a genetic thing. A throwback to the days of jungle fowl when this type of behavior was actually a benefit to survival but not in the domestic flock.

Never humanize your pets..They totally think or not think actually and are run by instinct not emotion..

 

[Redhead Rae]

Well, I haven't seen any fighting today. I'll go out and check on them more closely later today. Hopefully the timeout yesterday solved things.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I just got my eyes close on the chicks. The bullied chick seems to be doing fine. No fresh blood, cuts healing well. However, the bully's right eye was crusted shut. When I got my hands on him I could see a tiny bit of his eye. I gently pried the lids apart and his eye is fine. It looks like he had cuts on his eyelids that fused together in his sleep. Other than the battle wounds, everything seems to be fine. I'll be keeping a watch on them though.