How intense is your pecking order?

[thecatumbrella]

Our 1 D'uccle we had has almost completely ruined the breed for me.

I need to hear more about this bird. My d'Uccle is... unique. That's for sure.

One of my six cochins is a saint. She's exactly how I would expect the breed to be; no drama, easy to handle, very relaxed. Two suffered neurological damage at hatch, and both could be described as nervous and flighty. The last two act like they're on cocaine. Very in-your-face friendly, but the dial's turned up to 11. I mean, the one in my profile pic latched onto my finger like a dog as I was removing her from the shipping box.

 

[ValkerieGunn]

So our D'uccle was named Tiny. Original I know. He was one of our original flock from 2 years ago. Well we had a mix of bantams and regular birds. Tiny was the only bantam to make it to adulthood. 1 was failure to thrive I believe, 1 had pasty butt bad and as a novice i don't think I was quick enough, and the last was the only bird I have ever lost to a predator. So fast forward 2 years and he has slight small man syndrome. Not horrible but not great. Then this past spring as I was reaching into the nest box he jumped in and attacked. He got my sleeve and just clamped on. I literally shook my arm and he held on so tight it reminded me of a dog with a chew toy. But then afterwards he calmed down and we continued on with no issues for months. Then last month he started going for my ankles but as small as he was I honestly didn't always notice until the dog would get excited trying to get him to play with her. Then about 3 weeks ago I was out tending the garden and my daughter was bringing me the basket because I had forgotten it and she started screaming from around the corner of the shop and I go running. He would not leave her be even when I showed up, he completely ignored both my husband and I until we sent him flying. So he met his end after that incident and now my daughter is extremely nervous around our whole flock. Now thankfully she wasn't hurt at all just scared but since she was wearing my boots that day she has stolen them as a good luck charm and is slowly working out her fears.

 

[BDutch]

Also, what kind of bantams do you have? I stuck with pekin/cochins because that's the breed everyone seemed to love, but I'm always interested to hear what other people are having success with!

I have 4 Dutch, 1 bantam mix, 1 bantam RIR, 2 bantam Amrock (the European barred rock). None of them with genes for show quality. Had a few others breeds like bantam Sulmtaler and Naine du Tournaisis.

They get and got along well except for the combination juveniles & roost time. An extra coop did wonders to avoid trouble.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I have 4 Dutch, 1 bantam mix, 1 bantam RIR, 2 bantam Amrock (the European barred rock). None of them with genes for show quality. Had a few others breeds like bantam Sulmtaler and Naine du Tournaisis.

They get and got along well except for the combination juveniles & roost time. An extra coop did wonders to avoid trouble.

I like how I could have just read this in your signature. Whoops.
Really unique mix and I can appreciate the lack of feathered-feet. Certainly makes care a lot easier.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Our hens hate each other. They rip each others' feathers out and always look awful and scraggly. The girl at the bottom couldn't get any food so she had to go into a pen by herself. She cries all the time and wants to roost with the others at night but they want to bite her face off. The alpha has bitten me four times. They're separated into three groups which is three times the work and exhausting. If I had known it was going to be like this I would never have gotten them.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I have 4 Dutch, 1 bantam mix, 1 bantam RIR, 2 bantam Amrock (the European barred rock). None of them with genes for show quality. Had a few others breeds like bantam Sulmtaler and Naine du Tournaisis.

They get and got along well except for the combination juveniles & roost time. An extra coop did wonders to avoid trouble.

Same here - no discernible pecking order among the original three. We’re integrating the two youngers now, and so far little drama, although I’m expecting some, at least until they start laying.