Signs of a dominant chick?

[hemolymph]

I noticed one of my chicks (9 or 10 days old maybe?) is starting to act different. When the other two chicks are eating or minding their own business, she comes running up to them and kind of cuts them off. Like if one starts drinking, she'll run over there and walk right infront of them, lol. It seems like she is doing it on purpose because she'll sprint over there.

Is that a sign she is going to be at the top of the pecking order?!

 

[tamberlin]

could be shes a he...
but i do have one dominatrix in my group. Shes the quickest girl, most friendly, most curious, first out of the pen, etc. She is best buds with the rooster (they are 6 weeks...)

 

[FMAFarms]

Possibly, especially if all three of yours are girls. If she pecks at them (not a grooming peck, but a quick sharp peck to the head or to the back as she's passing them) then yes, you've got someone trying to establish pecking order. We've seen this start at about 2 to 3 weeks of age.

Pecking order is established between the females, between the males, and then between the females and males, so if you've got a mixed flock you'll see lots of little face offs, with frozen glares and then one moving away. Let me see if I can find the video I put up on You Tube. Here it is. It's only 9 seconds, but this happens pretty much every morning with our older females, Gloria and Blazekin. Dennis (our Golden Seabright) got in the way for some reason, but you can see the hopping and glaring that are typical for pecking order face offs.

 

[hemolymph]

Quote:
Yep that's exactly what she does, she pecks at them but not in a grooming way. I think she is older than the other two because she is the biggest!

 

[FMAFarms]

Are those your chicks, in your profile pic? They seem to be of different breeds and, if they are different breeds, then it's perfectly normal for one to be bigger than the other, because some breeds mature more quickly than others. Our Cochins are the tiniest of the chicks but end up being the largest of all the birds. Our Orpingtons grown large from the start. Our Ameraucanas start out growing very fast but then slow down in growth to be medium-sized birds. Our Wyandottes grow steadily from the get go, as do our Marans. If you know what breeds you have, we can help let you know what to expect, growth wise...