- Mar 9, 2014
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The pecking order battles are in full swing inside my brooder. 2 barred rocks, 1 ast, 1 buff and it seems like they'll never back down. The crowing started 2 days ago which we don't mind at all because after all who needs a digital alarm clock? We are wondering which of the 4 will come out on top as the dom male...Yesterday was clean up day and when I entered the pen to clean i dropped down to my knees to call over some of the more friendly hens, the buff walked over, calm and confident then spread his neck feathers and pecked the heck out of my hand. Now I am not sure why he's acting like this now (9 weeks) but I can say this, there has been a big shift in the pecking order and to be honest my wife would keep them all but I say otherwise. I feel he's the keeper but really the rest should go. We'll see how this all plays out next week when they are outside full time but for now the cold nights prevent us doing so. During the day i spend a lot of time outside watching them socialize( home injured from work) and they act so different outside free ranging. He is the top dog in the pen but outside seems to be way more independent and carefree. Can I expect this to continue?