fighting 7 week old chicks.

[Crazyland]

I took my Thai Game chicks outside for the first time today. They loved it!

We just had one problem. Two of them would NOT stop fighting. I separated them of course. Tried to introduce one at a time back into the group. But one of them is the instigator and will have to go.

And I think it is a hen too.
In the brooder they are fine! I just don't get it. Do you have any ideas about what to do?
They are some of the most friendly chicks I have ever had. One chick has really attached herself to me, and only me! lol
Here are some pictures of the 5 that were allowed to stay outside. The 6th chick went to a separate area. After roaming around a little they all wanted to roost on me and my daughter. At one point all 5 were on me cuddled up and going to sleep.

 

[DTchickens]

They are gamefowl, and to put it as simply as possible. If you do not want them to fight, kill them or get rid of them. If they are not game, which is the characteristic they're showing, then they are not gamefowl and do not have the right to be called that. That is like calling my Old english bantam a Silkie. It just simply is not, because the Silkie feather is the characteristic of the the Silkies-and OEB's are not Silkie feathered.

The Oriental Gamefowl (Thai, Shamo, Asil, Malay, Brazilian, Ga Noi (Don, and cua), HintHoroz, etc) are more aggressive than bankiva fowl (American, Spanish, Old English, etc) so you may have more problems out of them. The hens will gentle down fine after a pecking order is established. But the stags (cockerels) will just begin fighting more with age. Though they should be very calm towards you and their hens. In the brooder they are fine possibly due to having a pecking order established for that "region". Once moved to a new area (outside to free range) it is possible they're trying to set new boundaries for that territory. Could also be they were just enjoying themselves, got a little playful, which can lead to more.

-Daniel

ETA: Gamefowl are excellent birds, but they due tend to require extra care (since you can't have cocks together). It is always best to research the breeds, Orientals require more care than others due to being so large and hard feathered which makes them less cold hardy (though they still do well cold wise for me).

 

[Crazyland]

Thanks.

I don't expect to keep them all. But at 7 weeks I wasn't expecting them to start fighting.
These two would keep going back after each other.

They are all back in the brooder and doing fine.

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
The Orientals do start at a younger age than the bankiva fowl. Asils regularly are fighting at 6-8 weeks, even trying at adult birds sometimes (but to be honest they will back down usually)! Being kept in a small enclosure with just chicks their age you can expect them to fight more, gamefowl are game in nature, but the key that drives their instinct to fight to the death is still the same as any other animal. Dominance, and territory. They're just more severe. So with a lot of land, they tend to wait until a older age before fighting. And if you have a adult cock running the yard too to keep them pecked down, even if it were just a silkie rooster or Rhode Island red.. They will last much longer, though I think still can be expected by 6-12 months to be mature enough to fight any other rooster.

Your chicks might would stop fighting if you let them continue probably, but it may take longer than your typical production breeds. Anytime you separate them and let them come back together it just restarts the whole thing over again pretty much. But you have to watch them real closely if you take that route, even in American games I have had some that free ranged get into a fight around three months old and I came home to little skin-heads running everywhere.. Though I would expect them to stop sooner than that most of the time, depends on how determined they are I guess.

-Daniel

 

[Crazyland]

I did try and give them some extra time to settle it. But it didn't look like they would.
We will see how they do next time they go outside.
They are not with the adults and won't be for a long time. The adults all free range and do not want to use the coop.

 

[Ok12346]

I took my Thai Game chicks outside for the first time today. They loved it!

We just had one problem. Two of them would NOT stop fighting. I separated them of course. Tried to introduce one at a time back into the group. But one of them is the instigator and will have to go.

And I think it is a hen too.
In the brooder they are fine! I just don't get it. Do you have any ideas about what to do?
They are some of the most friendly chicks I have ever had. One chick has really attached herself to me, and only me! lol
Here are some pictures of the 5 that were allowed to stay outside. The 6th chick went to a separate area. After roaming around a little they all wanted to roost on me and my daughter. At one point all 5 were on me cuddled up and going to sleep.

There gamefowls mine start fighting at 2-4 weeks old and tries to kill each other atleast the stags some of the pullets can’t be kept with other pullets but some can but as soon as they start fighting and I mean there fight until one’s dead or bleeding and injured so as soon as I notice they start fighting i separate them by them self but still close to each other so they don’t get stressed out being by them self and not seeing other chicks but if you didn’t want breeds that start fighting and trying to kill each other then you shouldn’t have gotten gamefowls so I mean there different bloodlines some are not as aggressive and don’t start trying to fight until there 3-7 months old and then some like my gamefowls they start trying to fight to the death when there 2-4 weeks old so I separate them and sense I raise them outside normally there use to the weather so I don’t need to give them no heat