So the chicks arrived last night...

[AmyRey]

Three babies, all supposed to be pullets.

I introduced them to my lone 2 year old BO hen and within minutes one of the chicks was "challenging" her for her spot in the pecking order. The hen interpreted this gesture in EXACTLY the same way I did - she answered his challenge and I quickly scooped him up. They are now in separate quarters until the chicks are bigger and can hold their own.

I was shocked that the chick would even try, considering it is so GROSSLY overmatched.

Is it possible that our bully chick is a boy?

And on other note - what can I do to tell these three chicks apart? If they were bigger, I'd do zipties on the legs. Clearly, this won't work for them though.

 

[tazcat70]

I have put small zip ties on newly hatched chicks, so you can do that.

Also I usually wait about 2-4 weeks to introduce the chicks to the older birds. It helps if they have somewhere they can go to get away from them too. But at some point the pecking order will be set, and then challenged.