Hopefully Not Roosters, but Acting Like Roosters...

[Duck_Lover_101]

Hi! So I'm not a newbie to chickens, I've been raising them for around 6-5 years, but there is always new stuff I'm learning. I recently got 4 Delaware chickens for a show I'm raising them for. Now, they come from a hatchery, which is supposedly a good one (though the guy in charge never said the name of it so I dunno). But these chicks are WEIRD. Everyone I show them to tell me how strange they are and how they have never seen chickens act like they do. Even the man in charge of the entire thing told me as warning when I went to pick up the chickens that they were the weirdest chickens he had ever seen (and he has around 25-30 years of experience). It's hard to explain though, but it's just their attitude that's odd. They're about 9-8 weeks old right now. But, today in their run I saw them flying up, and it almost looked like they were trying to spur each other. The longer I have them the more paranoid I am that they are all roosters. Anyone have any experience with hens acting like this (and that it's not only roosters)? And, I would be fine with one rooster normally, but I can only have hens where I live. Thank you in advance!

 

[chickenhappy1233]

post photos and we can sex them, it is very possible they are cockerels, but pullets can also act like that

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

Hi! So I'm not a newbie to chickens, I've been raising them for around 6-5 years, but there is always new stuff I'm learning. I recently got 4 Delaware chickens for a show I'm raising them for. Now, they come from a hatchery, which is supposedly a good one (though the guy in charge never said the name of it so I dunno). But these chicks are WEIRD. Everyone I show them to tell me how strange they are and how they have never seen chickens act like they do. Even the man in charge of the entire thing told me as warning when I went to pick up the chickens that they were the weirdest chickens he had ever seen (and he has around 25-30 years of experience). It's hard to explain though, but it's just their attitude that's odd. They're about 9-8 weeks old right now. But, today in their run I saw them flying up, and it almost looked like they were trying to spur each other. The longer I have them the more paranoid I am that they are all roosters. Anyone have any experience with hens acting like this (and that it's not only roosters)? And, I would be fine with one rooster normally, but I can only have hens where I live. Thank you in advance!

Do you have pictures? You can't tell without pics.

 

[HappyDuckie]

Could you post pictures of them?

 

[Duck_Lover_101]

Thanks for the replys so early! I will post pictures soon, but right now I'm away from home and don't have any recent pics

 

[NinaJoy]

I wondered what you mean by they're 'weird. I have a Delaware Rooster and he's kinda oddball but I figured its because he's a boy.

 

[Duck_Lover_101]

Here are my babies ❤

Sorry for the bad pictures though, they never stop moving, I just took them real quick in my garage.

*Also, even though they kinda look the same in this picture, two of them have more black spots than the others, who are almost all white. I don't know if that really means anything, this is my first experience with Delawares, but the almost-all-white ones have a few black spots on the bottom of their tails

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

I think it's definitely half and half. The last one makes me think of a roo. I haven't had Delawares before so I don't know what they should look like at this stage. I think the first 2 are definitely hens.

 

[Duck_Lover_101]

I wondered what you mean by they're 'weird. I have a Delaware Rooster and he's kinda oddball but I figured its because he's a boy.

Well, they are very bold if that makes sense. Even when they were 2 days old (when I first got them) they were very strange. I don't know, every chick I've ever encountered normally wants to stay with the others and runs away from my hands when I go to pick them up in their brood. But these, they immediately run up to me and fight to jump in my hand (literally jumping on each other's heads to get in my hand). Also, I've heard of them establishing their pecking order, but they were less than a week when they started to fight amongst themselves, which I've never seen before. I know it's not for food back then (they love mealworms now though) as they weren't interested in any treats I gave them really after a couple of seconds. They also love to follow/chase my brother around, though not aggressively, they just seem to enjoy following him. They love people, and perch WHENEVER they can, even from a very young age. Is this normal? The thing that boggles me is it's all 4 of them, not just 1 or 2. Though, at first, 1 was very shy then became to be like these dog-chickens. Also, I have a beagle, and once he got through my sibling's legs, and ran to the backyard. I always try to prepare (if you can't tell I'm very thorough from all this information lol), so they were in a little outdoor run because it wasn't too cool that day. My dog started howling and they just went right up to him in the coop, not even phased. Also, they love people, love everyone that goes to see them, and immediately run to hands when anyone goes to pick them up. Whew, so sorry for this information load

*Also, your rooster is such a pretty boy!!

 

[Duck_Lover_101]

I think it's definitely half and half. The last one makes me think of a roo. I haven't had Delawares before so I don't know what they should look like at this stage. I think the first 2 are definitely hens.

Thank you for the answer! Even if it saddens me I will have to probably give away some of them, I'm glad for all the responses