What does normal pecking order behavior look like?

[harriedhomemaker]

My chickens are 16 weeks old. They have always been really calm and gotten along fine, but recently they've started squabbling. Our rooster is the main culprit. He will just randomly come up to one of the pullets and peck at her comb. The attacks look brutal, but I haven't seen any bleeding. The pullets also started doing that with each other yesterday.

Is this typical behavior? I think I read somewhere on BYC that peck order squabbles can increase as the pullets get close to laying age. What does normal peck order behavior look like and when should I intervene (ie. send a persistent offender to freezer camp)?

 

[HEChicken]

That does not sound like normal pecking order to me. Pecking order is usually determined as chicks with chest bumps. As they get older, a hen who is higher in the pecking order will aim the occasional peck at a lower ranking bird when it has the audacity to try to eat from the feeder at the same time, just to "keep it in line". A hen who is making a bid to rise in rank, might engage in a pecking order battle that involves mostly staring down the other hen. The first to look away is the loser.

If your rooster is also 16 weeks old, he is probably in that obnoxious hormonal puberty stage and he may settle down with time, or he may become worse the bigger he gets. At this age it can be hard to know. But if he is causing that much strife, the stew pot is certainly a valid option.

 

[harriedhomemaker]

That does not sound like normal pecking order to me. Pecking order is usually determined as chicks with chest bumps. As they get older, a hen who is higher in the pecking order will aim the occasional peck at a lower ranking bird when it has the audacity to try to eat from the feeder at the same time, just to "keep it in line". A hen who is making a bid to rise in rank, might engage in a pecking order battle that involves mostly staring down the other hen. The first to look away is the loser.

If your rooster is also 16 weeks old, he is probably in that obnoxious hormonal puberty stage and he may settle down with time, or he may become worse the bigger he gets. At this age it can be hard to know. But if he is causing that much strife, the stew pot is certainly a valid option.

Thank you! This is very helpful.

 

[n8ivetxn]

I've got a roo, about 14-15 weeks... he is on the run all the time....pecking and chasing and running from one or another of the hens...I just bought them a month ago, so I figure he's trying to find his place in the coop - but he drives me crazy, and I know who it is when I hear the little ones squeal in pain.... I may separate him, within sight, just so others don't have to keep running from his frazzled self