Silly pullets; that's a feather!

[FortFusterCluck]

I have 8 pullets & 2 cockerels ranging in ages from 8-12 weeks-ish. One of their funny behaviors is to claim a lost feather from the ground and scurry around the run with it trying to steal it from one another. Eventually the "winner" will thump it on the ground to try to break it like it's a beetle or something. Usually it's discarded and forgotten about.

Anyone understand this behavior? Or just silly chicken fun?

 

[Saveria]

My friend would drop onion skins in the brooder and joke that it was like a game of touch football, as they all grabbed the skin and tried to run away from each other.

I think that it is practice, just like kittens wrestling. My bigger girls do it all the time with actual bugs, so the chicks want to prepare for when it is the real thing, I think.

You can try dropping in a tiny bit of greens or broken up meal worms, or even onion skins. They can have more practice . Also, you can also start to know what treats they like.

 

[Saveria]

Also, this is probably another stage in setting the pecking order, just like the staring matches that have probably already happened. They are figuring out who is on top and gets the food first.

 

[Isadora]

Just practicing for when they find that first juicy worm.

 

[SilverBirds]

They are in hunting mode and playing a game of keep away.

 

[Lor]

I have 8 pullets & 2 cockerels ranging in ages from 8-12 weeks-ish. One of their funny behaviors is to claim a lost feather from the ground and scurry around the run with it trying to steal it from one another. Eventually the "winner" will thump it on the ground to try to break it like it's a beetle or something. Usually it's discarded and forgotten about.

Anyone understand this behavior? Or just silly chicken fun?

Wait until there is plenty of treat for all of them but they still chase the one who got there first. The little nutters.