MrsEOCRet
In the Brooder
- Mar 24, 2017
- 1
- 0
- 10
Hi everyone,
I was given 10 baby chicks for my birthday in late February. They were a complete and total surprise to me, although our friend had discussed it first with my husband. I was raised as a city girl so chickens are a completely new experience for me. (We live in the country now.) They were straight run from Tractor Supply. Six were RIR and the other 4 are unknown breeds. As it turned out, 5 of the RIR were cockerels. One of them in particular eventually became the alpha and was picking on one of the pullets a lot. I came to the conclusion that she was not a laying chicken but a meat chicken due to her size, slowness, and difficulty standing. She was about 13 weeks old when we opted to put her in the freezer. That really sucked because she was such a friendly girl. So, Stiffler and 3 of his buddies went to auction.
Now I have one cockerel and 4 pullets (about 18 weeks old), as well as 6 more RIR pullets (aged 10 weeks) that I have yet to introduce to the flock. I kept the cockerel that was the friendliest. He used to run up to me when I visited them in the brooder and hop right into my hand for a cuddle. Boy was I hoping he was a she!
Somebody started laying eggs while we were on vacation 2 weeks ago. We did not have nest boxes built yet because we didn't expect them to start laying for at least another month. They are built now, and one of the pullets has started using the corner one to lay eggs, although I still find one in the sand now and then. Those are nice, normal looking brown eggs. Someone else is leaving leathery soft shelled eggs on the poop board under the roosting bars during the night; I am assuming this is because they are still immature and I expect them to eventually mature and lay hard shelled eggs. They were all on Chick Starter/Grower (20%) until about 12 weeks of age before I switched them to Grower/Finisher. They are now on the Dumor Layer crumble since they are laying. Our coop is a converted 8 x 12 shed with an 8 x 12 outdoor pen. Hubby does not want them to free-range.
Enough of the background. I have seen the cockerel grabbing onto the back of Sweetpeas' neck in what looks like a nasty attack. She is one of the larger 3 birds of unknown breed (at least to me). The only blood I've seen is the rare tiny drop or two on the dropping board when I clean it off in the morning. I don't like to see this behavior. Sometimes, she stays on the roost bars in the morning as though she doesn't want to come down because of him. When I put her down on the floor, she nearly attacks the feeder because she is so hungry. I will push him away if he tries to crowd into or go after her. He is not mean to me even though he has occasionally pecked me. I've trimmed his beak twice so he doesn't break the skin. I have no trouble touching him and even petting him although it's not his favorite thing for me to do. He is protective of the girls and the eggs. I have to sometimes distract him with one hand while I pick up the egg with the other hand. He comes running if one of the girls squawks while I'm doing something in the coop. I find it interesting that I've never seen him pick on the one RIR pullet. (Racism in the chicken coop???) I am concerned about introducing the 6 younger girls into the flock. We plan to section off the area under the dropping board for them so that they can integrate in the pecking order hopefully without any blood flow. My concern is whether he will attack them when we do take down the fence.
Since I am so new to chickens, are his "attacks" on Sweetpea something to be concerned about at all or is this normal chicken behavior? Or am I worrying for nothing? Also, are the younger girls old enough to introduce to the older group? If the cockerel has 6 more pullets added to the flock, might he lose interest in attacking Sweetpea? I apologize for being long-winded but I like to be thorough in describing a situation when asking for advice. Thanks in advance for any help you provide!
I was given 10 baby chicks for my birthday in late February. They were a complete and total surprise to me, although our friend had discussed it first with my husband. I was raised as a city girl so chickens are a completely new experience for me. (We live in the country now.) They were straight run from Tractor Supply. Six were RIR and the other 4 are unknown breeds. As it turned out, 5 of the RIR were cockerels. One of them in particular eventually became the alpha and was picking on one of the pullets a lot. I came to the conclusion that she was not a laying chicken but a meat chicken due to her size, slowness, and difficulty standing. She was about 13 weeks old when we opted to put her in the freezer. That really sucked because she was such a friendly girl. So, Stiffler and 3 of his buddies went to auction.
Now I have one cockerel and 4 pullets (about 18 weeks old), as well as 6 more RIR pullets (aged 10 weeks) that I have yet to introduce to the flock. I kept the cockerel that was the friendliest. He used to run up to me when I visited them in the brooder and hop right into my hand for a cuddle. Boy was I hoping he was a she!
Somebody started laying eggs while we were on vacation 2 weeks ago. We did not have nest boxes built yet because we didn't expect them to start laying for at least another month. They are built now, and one of the pullets has started using the corner one to lay eggs, although I still find one in the sand now and then. Those are nice, normal looking brown eggs. Someone else is leaving leathery soft shelled eggs on the poop board under the roosting bars during the night; I am assuming this is because they are still immature and I expect them to eventually mature and lay hard shelled eggs. They were all on Chick Starter/Grower (20%) until about 12 weeks of age before I switched them to Grower/Finisher. They are now on the Dumor Layer crumble since they are laying. Our coop is a converted 8 x 12 shed with an 8 x 12 outdoor pen. Hubby does not want them to free-range.
Enough of the background. I have seen the cockerel grabbing onto the back of Sweetpeas' neck in what looks like a nasty attack. She is one of the larger 3 birds of unknown breed (at least to me). The only blood I've seen is the rare tiny drop or two on the dropping board when I clean it off in the morning. I don't like to see this behavior. Sometimes, she stays on the roost bars in the morning as though she doesn't want to come down because of him. When I put her down on the floor, she nearly attacks the feeder because she is so hungry. I will push him away if he tries to crowd into or go after her. He is not mean to me even though he has occasionally pecked me. I've trimmed his beak twice so he doesn't break the skin. I have no trouble touching him and even petting him although it's not his favorite thing for me to do. He is protective of the girls and the eggs. I have to sometimes distract him with one hand while I pick up the egg with the other hand. He comes running if one of the girls squawks while I'm doing something in the coop. I find it interesting that I've never seen him pick on the one RIR pullet. (Racism in the chicken coop???) I am concerned about introducing the 6 younger girls into the flock. We plan to section off the area under the dropping board for them so that they can integrate in the pecking order hopefully without any blood flow. My concern is whether he will attack them when we do take down the fence.
Since I am so new to chickens, are his "attacks" on Sweetpea something to be concerned about at all or is this normal chicken behavior? Or am I worrying for nothing? Also, are the younger girls old enough to introduce to the older group? If the cockerel has 6 more pullets added to the flock, might he lose interest in attacking Sweetpea? I apologize for being long-winded but I like to be thorough in describing a situation when asking for advice. Thanks in advance for any help you provide!
