We have a very lovely gentle flock (well...they are a little treat greedy but have a lab for a role model). Our most recent hatch (Australorps and EE AustralorpXAmericauna) is now 4 weeks old and we have what seemed to be one very outgoing little grey. When the chicks were about a week old I had them out for some exercise in the bunny run and this little one actually chased down our bunny and jumped on his back. At the time it was semi cute. When out in the garden he runs to the fencing if anyone approaches.... even leaving the other chicks across the garden. Seems very outgoing and friendly with people....does not peck. He is fine for us to handle him and is handled by kids and fine with that. He is the first to come and greet the humans. Today I saw a different side when I had them in the coop while the big guys were in the run. He was really being nasty attacking....not just pecking but pinning to the ground and pulling out little fluffy baby feathers from the others....all others not just the boys (or our best guess of who are boys at this age) The normal development of pecking order is one thing but what I saw todayis pretty excessive for what I have experienced with any of my other chicks. After what I saw today I am concerned that this outgoing nature may just be aggression.?? We use strategies with our other roos that we have learned on BYC (i.e. no mating behaviour in front of us, making sure hens and pullets get treats first, breaking up the "baby cock fights") to hopefully have a gentle flock. We won`t tolerate an aggressive roo and our extra boys all get to go to freezer camp when they are old enough as would nasties if we have them. I want to be as proactive as possible with this little one as he is certainly different then our experience so far. DH thinks he is a sociopath Any tips, stories or suggestions would be appreciated. We have an 18 month old granddaughter and children of friends who love our chickens so we are very guarded with keeping our flock gentle.
LOL...He`d probably challenge my lab who would either run away or lick the chick to death. DH has threatened to toss him in with the flock and see how he does with our big roos. I found a link on one of the treads that talks about roo behaviour and establishing ourselves as Head Roo...seems to have knocked him back a notch for now...crossing my fingers.
I had 1 that was doing that and he killed a few of my little chicks before I realized it was him,he was given to my dog who dispatches them in seconds.
I am in the same position. I have 23 babies all about a month old and noticed the gray ones (I am pretty sure they are Andalusians) are very aggresive. so I seperated them (3) and in a matter of a few hours one was left with no feathers on it's back from the neck to the tail!! Hard to believe that those sweet little chicks can be so mean.
Ya...I hate watching them start the pecking order thing as they go from being so sweet to chasing each other around for a week or two. He seems much more settled now. I think one of our Australorps has won Head Roo and we have been spitting up all the roo behaviours when we are around them. This was link was posted on another thread and I find it to be great info! We are trying some of the suggestions with our boys. http://shilala.homestead.com/roosters.html Hopefully the grey brat has settled but we will be keeping our eye on him forsure.
