What age do they start sorting out pecking order?

6of6chicks

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Just curious and wanting to understand my chickens better. I just went out to close up the coop for the night and there was a huge shoving match going on in there. They are 6 1/2 week old buff orpingtons and so far I haven't seen any squabbles. Generally they are extremely peaceful with one another. Tonight they appeared to be trying to sort out who gets to sleep where - with the choice spots being in the rafters and on the window ledge. There wasn't any pecking, just a whole lot of shoving and yelling.

My coop has two parallel perches about 2 feet off the ground, and the only reason they are fighting over the rafters is because there are small ledges created by the 2x4s used in the frame. It never occurred to me when building that they would try to perch on those. They BARELY fit on the ledges and will soon be too big to hang on, so it will be a non-issue in the near future. I'm just curious if the shoving match over sleeping spots is the start of defining their pecking order?
 
The pecking order is worked out at week 2. So your's must have done it peacefully!
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The pecking order is worked out at week 2. So your's must have done it peacefully!
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I read that and laughed! I had no clue. And here I've been waiting for a month for the squabbles to start!

I finally got colored zip ties today to ID them all, and I'm really curious to see if it's the same one every night getting the "choice" spot up in the rafters. I even wonder if they're lining up on the perch the same way (?). It'll be interesting to see! (Can you tell I find my chickens fascinating? Guess I'm turning into a crazy chicken lady! lol)

The funny thing is that there are two identical perches, and thus two identical good spots in the rafters, but they only use one perch at night so only one wins the battle and gets to sleep up there. No-one has figured out they can get up there from the other side!
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What I have found with my chickens is as they age, they tend to prefer higher perches. I think they feel more secure if they can roost higher. 2' is low. Mine all use the 5' and 6' roosts and just use the lower ones during the day when they are chilling in the coop to get out of the sun. Put one up higher if you can and they should all move to it.
 
What I have found with my chickens is as they age, they tend to prefer higher perches. I think they feel more secure if they can roost higher. 2' is low. Mine all use the 5' and 6' roosts and just use the lower ones during the day when they are chilling in the coop to get out of the sun. Put one up higher if you can and they should all move to it.

I have the perches low because I had read that heavier breeds (I have buff orpingtons) can get bumblefoot from perches that are too high. Is that wrong? After I saw pics of bumblefoot I got scared and started to get worried my perches were actually too high. I was thinking of switching to one long perch across the length of the coop that is 6 inches lower (read that 18" is best?) rather than two parallel perches. I had originally wanted one long perch, but struggled with mounting it based on where I put vents & doors (design flaw on my part), which is how I ended up with the two perches. Not sure what to do?
 
I've never heard of that. I have mostly DP birds and have never had a case of BF. I think mine are looking for a place with better air flow as well as security. I kept raising my perches for the guineas but the hens kept taking over their higher perch. They settled for the 5' and the guineas and a few ROs use the higher one.
 
I have the perches low because I had read that heavier breeds (I have buff orpingtons) can get bumblefoot from perches that are too high. Is that wrong? After I saw pics of bumblefoot I got scared and started to get worried my perches were actually too high. I was thinking of switching to one long perch across the length of the coop that is 6 inches lower (read that 18" is best?) rather than two parallel perches. I had originally wanted one long perch, but struggled with mounting it based on where I put vents & doors (design flaw on my part), which is how I ended up with the two perches. Not sure what to do?

You are absolutely right about perch height and bumblefoot in a heavy breed like the Orp. As they mature, they will have more and more difficulty reaching height and become more susceptible to BF if they do. 18 inches is the ideal but if yours are higher, you could always pop something underneath to give them a step-up.
 

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