It's kind of hilarious to watch, he runs away from her like his life depends on it
It's things like this that makes chicken TV better than anything on cable, satellite, or antenna.
So I wonder if things will get easier with the two boys being together once they mature? If we can figure out a way to get through the next 6 months or so do you think they might settle down?
I don't know, it might. You don't get guarantees with the behaviors of living animals, anything can happen. The two boys may get along fine or one may kill the other.
In my wildest dreams I would have never thought that chickens were so much work
I'm going to be kind of blunt but mine aren't that much work, at least after the basic facilities were finished. I have made additions as I go along, I think that is normal. But day to day it's mostly just feed and water them, collect eggs, lock them up at night and let then out the next morning. Cleaning is not that often. People with pet dogs often work harder taking care of them.
We all have different goals, set-ups and management techniques so we get different results. Mine have a lot of room which makes it a lot easier on me in all these things. I can sit back and let them be chickens. Your space is kind of tight, if you follow the link in my signature you'll see one of the things I talk about is that the less space they have the harder you have to work.
If a chicken becomes a drama queen or disrupts the peace and tranquility of the flock I eat it. I don't keep special needs chickens. I don't have pet chickens, I have a flock that has changeable parts. This eliminates a lot of drama. The majority of people on this forum won't do that.
You are still going through the shakedown phase, a learning curve. Yours are still adolescents. When they mature their behaviors should settle down but in the short term it may get wilder. If you can get through their puberty and this winter things should settle down a lot for you. But it may be challenging to get to that point.
or so complicated when it comes to their interactions!!
They are living animals. They may have tendencies but you just cannot always tell what they will do. They have developed ways of living together as a flock. If there is conflict the loser runs away if it has room. The weaker avoid the strong. In nature, the adolescent boys are kicked out of the main flock and have to survive on their own until they can claim a territory and attract their own girls. The girls have a lot of freedom in choosing which male they want to hang around with. A fight between boys is more about defending territory or establishing dominance so they can claim territory than a fight to the death. A broody hen raises her chicks with the flock but not in the middle of the flock, more on the periphery. As the chicks grow up they have adults around them. Yours don't, my initial ones didn't either. When the boys start to act up the hens don't school them, the dominant rooster runs them out of the flock. It can be a brutal society.
It is a complicated society and they still have those instincts although we have domesticated them. A lot of those behaviors depend on having room. We don't give them that room, I sure don't. We don't let them split up and spread out, we force them to be together. They don't have the safety valve of lots of room to diffuse these situations.
In nature your Buff Orp would have been eaten by a predator long ago. Since they are laying, the older pullets would have hooked up with a more mature male, probably in a fairly small flock. That OE cockerel would just about be at the point of getting run out of the flock by the dominant cockerel.
I'm not trying to criticize you, I face the same issues. Practically everyone on this forum does. The biggest thing that makes it complicated is that each chicken is an individual with its own personality. They don't all act the same even in the same conditions. There are basic tendencies but its always an adventure.
It's things like this that makes chicken TV better than anything on cable, satellite, or antenna.
So I wonder if things will get easier with the two boys being together once they mature? If we can figure out a way to get through the next 6 months or so do you think they might settle down?
I don't know, it might. You don't get guarantees with the behaviors of living animals, anything can happen. The two boys may get along fine or one may kill the other.
In my wildest dreams I would have never thought that chickens were so much work
I'm going to be kind of blunt but mine aren't that much work, at least after the basic facilities were finished. I have made additions as I go along, I think that is normal. But day to day it's mostly just feed and water them, collect eggs, lock them up at night and let then out the next morning. Cleaning is not that often. People with pet dogs often work harder taking care of them.
We all have different goals, set-ups and management techniques so we get different results. Mine have a lot of room which makes it a lot easier on me in all these things. I can sit back and let them be chickens. Your space is kind of tight, if you follow the link in my signature you'll see one of the things I talk about is that the less space they have the harder you have to work.
If a chicken becomes a drama queen or disrupts the peace and tranquility of the flock I eat it. I don't keep special needs chickens. I don't have pet chickens, I have a flock that has changeable parts. This eliminates a lot of drama. The majority of people on this forum won't do that.
You are still going through the shakedown phase, a learning curve. Yours are still adolescents. When they mature their behaviors should settle down but in the short term it may get wilder. If you can get through their puberty and this winter things should settle down a lot for you. But it may be challenging to get to that point.
or so complicated when it comes to their interactions!!
They are living animals. They may have tendencies but you just cannot always tell what they will do. They have developed ways of living together as a flock. If there is conflict the loser runs away if it has room. The weaker avoid the strong. In nature, the adolescent boys are kicked out of the main flock and have to survive on their own until they can claim a territory and attract their own girls. The girls have a lot of freedom in choosing which male they want to hang around with. A fight between boys is more about defending territory or establishing dominance so they can claim territory than a fight to the death. A broody hen raises her chicks with the flock but not in the middle of the flock, more on the periphery. As the chicks grow up they have adults around them. Yours don't, my initial ones didn't either. When the boys start to act up the hens don't school them, the dominant rooster runs them out of the flock. It can be a brutal society.
It is a complicated society and they still have those instincts although we have domesticated them. A lot of those behaviors depend on having room. We don't give them that room, I sure don't. We don't let them split up and spread out, we force them to be together. They don't have the safety valve of lots of room to diffuse these situations.
In nature your Buff Orp would have been eaten by a predator long ago. Since they are laying, the older pullets would have hooked up with a more mature male, probably in a fairly small flock. That OE cockerel would just about be at the point of getting run out of the flock by the dominant cockerel.
I'm not trying to criticize you, I face the same issues. Practically everyone on this forum does. The biggest thing that makes it complicated is that each chicken is an individual with its own personality. They don't all act the same even in the same conditions. There are basic tendencies but its always an adventure.
