Ugh..a baby roo or just a hen with lots of attitude??

[undine]

My 4 day old barred rock has been giving a lot of attitude. "She's" been pecking at me whenever im checking the other baby chicks for a pasty butt, and the ONLY one that pecks. "She" is also protective amongst the other hen also...usually propping "her" head up when she knows im coming to check for pasty butts.

 

[chooks4life]

What do you mean about 'propping' her head up? Roosters that age don't protect hens, though they may display other stereotypically male behavior. Hens often do too. Any burst of male hormones can impel male behavior in a female, and females obviously do have 'male' hormones too, just like males have 'female' hormones. Many high production commercial layer breeds have such high levels of male hormones that they crow, grow spurs, and mate with other hens.

Sounds to me like you have a mentally aberrant one, really; here's a list of the most likely ways.
1) Pika related mental issues. The animal was lacking either the right nutrient level or the ability to synthesize or absorb it; this drives/creates several sorts of madnesses including cannibalism. It can be inherited, in fact often is. These chooks will often try to consume everything around them. They've usually had the instinct for what's healthy to eat bred out of them because their ancestors were bred in cages eating stuff that looks like cardboard, on lacking diets.
2) Aggressive attitude. Some chicks, mainly from the sort of environment and ancestry I just detailed, are vicious bullies that will often turn on chooks or humans. Not usually both to the same degree.
3) Sexual attraction misplacement. Again, from the same sort of breeding environment, you get chooks which view humans as sexual partners due to decades of artificial insemination. The males tend to peck at human hands or legs, as a precursor to trying to mount, and females tend to squat near humans or when approached, in the mating position. The males in particular are often predisposed to violence toward humans as they view them as either hens or roosters, and repeated attempts to mate with humans resulting in failure to consummate leads them to think we're males. They don't know they're chooks, or they don't know we aren't; they may mate with chooks normally but still be sexually attracted to humans.

It sounds to me like this little chook may be future trouble. I assume the propping you talk about is the ready-to-fight stance, sizing you up; this is not good. Some hens can also maim humans like roosters, and this chicken's aggression levels sound abnormal to say the least. Anyway, best wishes. If you can post a pic me or other people can likely tell you what gender it is. Male behavior is the least reliable of the traits to sex it by.

 

[undine]

What do you mean about 'propping' her head up? Roosters that age don't protect hens, though they may display other stereotypically male behavior. Hens often do too. Any burst of male hormones can impel male behavior in a female, and females obviously do have 'male' hormones too, just like males have 'female' hormones. Many high production commercial layer breeds have such high levels of male hormones that they crow, grow spurs, and mate with other hens.

Sounds to me like you have a mentally aberrant one, really; here's a list of the most likely ways.
1) Pika related mental issues. The animal was lacking either the right nutrient level or the ability to synthesize or absorb it; this drives/creates several sorts of madnesses including cannibalism. It can be inherited, in fact often is. These chooks will often try to consume everything around them. They've usually had the instinct for what's healthy to eat bred out of them because their ancestors were bred in cages eating stuff that looks like cardboard, on lacking diets.
2) Aggressive attitude. Some chicks, mainly from the sort of environment and ancestry I just detailed, are vicious bullies that will often turn on chooks or humans. Not usually both to the same degree.
3) Sexual attraction misplacement. Again, from the same sort of breeding environment, you get chooks which view humans as sexual partners due to decades of artificial insemination. The males tend to peck at human hands or legs, as a precursor to trying to mount, and females tend to squat near humans or when approached, in the mating position. The males in particular are often predisposed to violence toward humans as they view them as either hens or roosters, and repeated attempts to mate with humans resulting in failure to consummate leads them to think we're males. They don't know they're chooks, or they don't know we aren't; they may mate with chooks normally but still be sexually attracted to humans.

It sounds to me like this little chook may be future trouble. I assume the propping you talk about is the ready-to-fight stance, sizing you up; this is not good. Some hens can also maim humans like roosters, and this chicken's aggression levels sound abnormal to say the least. Anyway, best wishes. If you can post a pic me or other people can likely tell you what gender it is. Male behavior is the least reliable of the traits to sex it by.

This isn't good news ='( but very informative and helpful, thanks! She wasnt like this the first day i got her, her sister... the other barred rock that came in almost half dead in the box, i nursed her back to health though she was still kind of weak.. drowned in the waterer today morning while everyone was sleeping. I thought maybe this is why she has some sort of anger towards me? By propping, I think youre correct on that one because whenever she would see my hand, she would extend her neck and prop up. Shes the only chick that pecks me. I have no problem picking the others up checking for pasty butt, but when i do of course shed "fly" and runbacross the brooder box trying to scare me away. On the picture ill try and see if i can take one lol seeing as she doesnt like me near her.

 

[undine]

What do you mean about 'propping' her head up? Roosters that age don't protect hens, though they may display other stereotypically male behavior. Hens often do too. Any burst of male hormones can impel male behavior in a female, and females obviously do have 'male' hormones too, just like males have 'female' hormones. Many high production commercial layer breeds have such high levels of male hormones that they crow, grow spurs, and mate with other hens.

Sounds to me like you have a mentally aberrant one, really; here's a list of the most likely ways.
1) Pika related mental issues. The animal was lacking either the right nutrient level or the ability to synthesize or absorb it; this drives/creates several sorts of madnesses including cannibalism. It can be inherited, in fact often is. These chooks will often try to consume everything around them. They've usually had the instinct for what's healthy to eat bred out of them because their ancestors were bred in cages eating stuff that looks like cardboard, on lacking diets.
2) Aggressive attitude. Some chicks, mainly from the sort of environment and ancestry I just detailed, are vicious bullies that will often turn on chooks or humans. Not usually both to the same degree.
3) Sexual attraction misplacement. Again, from the same sort of breeding environment, you get chooks which view humans as sexual partners due to decades of artificial insemination. The males tend to peck at human hands or legs, as a precursor to trying to mount, and females tend to squat near humans or when approached, in the mating position. The males in particular are often predisposed to violence toward humans as they view them as either hens or roosters, and repeated attempts to mate with humans resulting in failure to consummate leads them to think we're males. They don't know they're chooks, or they don't know we aren't; they may mate with chooks normally but still be sexually attracted to humans.

It sounds to me like this little chook may be future trouble. I assume the propping you talk about is the ready-to-fight stance, sizing you up; this is not good. Some hens can also maim humans like roosters, and this chicken's aggression levels sound abnormal to say the least. Anyway, best wishes. If you can post a pic me or other people can likely tell you what gender it is. Male behavior is the least reliable of the traits to sex it by.

I chose barred rock because ive read on so many websites and on youtube saying that theyre a very docile chicken. The others are the easter eggers, golden buffs, australorps, buff orpingtons, and the barred rock.

 

[undine]

LOL not a good picture of her, but there she iss

 

[undine]

LOL not a good picture of her, but there she iss

Umm maybe using flash wasnt a great idea, but heres the front view. I didnt wake her up she was up when i came back the second time xD

 

[chooks4life]

Sorry to hear about the one that drowned, even though it sounds like it was a goner anyway. I was just talking to someone else about chicks drowning. Sucks.

I chose barred rock because ive read on so many websites and on youtube saying that theyre a very docile chicken. The others are the easter eggers, golden buffs, australorps, buff orpingtons, and the barred rock.

In my experience it's not the breed, it's the strain. Most chooks of a given breed might be docile but it only takes one person a few generations to breed violent chooks, in the right circumstances. Some people practically have a gift at it, lol... I believe it's the most recent breeder, not the breed as a whole, that indicates the chook's safety or otherwise.

It does look like a male, but it is very early days and males don't often feather so quickly, but that's no guarantee. That's supposed to be quite a reliable trait to sex them by for some breeds but I'm into mongrels and it's pretty reliable with them too, the males seem to feather slower on average and grow out their secondaries often before their primaries, whereas the females tend to grow an even coat of all the wing feathers at one time. If its wings are feathering slower than the rest I'd chalk that up as another indicator that is might be male. But it'll take a bit longer to be 100% sure.

Anyway, best wishes. Personally I'd probably grow the chick out a bit then cull when it can provide a meal, though if it started harming the others I'd cull immediately. But it does sound like it might escalate its attacks as it gets bigger, since it's acting certifiably mad (lol, but kinda not funny really)... So whatever you choose, best wishes with that. In my experience these sorts of deranged behaviors don't settle down or get grown out of, but some people are willing to put up with them.

 

[undine]

Sorry to hear about the one that drowned, even though it sounds like it was a goner anyway. I was just talking to someone else about chicks drowning. Sucks.
In my experience it's not the breed, it's the strain. Most chooks of a given breed might be docile but it only takes one person a few generations to breed violent chooks, in the right circumstances. Some people practically have a gift at it, lol... I believe it's the most recent breeder, not the breed as a whole, that indicates the chook's safety or otherwise.

It does look like a male, but it is very early days and males don't often feather so quickly, but that's no guarantee. That's supposed to be quite a reliable trait to sex them by for some breeds but I'm into mongrels and it's pretty reliable with them too, the males seem to feather slower on average and grow out their secondaries often before their primaries, whereas the females tend to grow an even coat of all the wing feathers at one time. If its wings are feathering slower than the rest I'd chalk that up as another indicator that is might be male. But it'll take a bit longer to be 100% sure.

Anyway, best wishes. Personally I'd probably grow the chick out a bit then cull when it can provide a meal, though if it started harming the others I'd cull immediately. But it does sound like it might escalate its attacks as it gets bigger, since it's acting certifiably mad (lol, but kinda not funny really)... So whatever you choose, best wishes with that. In my experience these sorts of deranged behaviors don't settle down or get grown out of, but some people are willing to put up with them.

Thaanks again So helppfull lol