When does "pecking order" begin?

[mjpearson]

hey yall I have seen the chicks start when they are about 3 weeks old but just a guess

 

[MeepBeep]

I am surprised to see so many having problems with their mixed flocks.

Me too, I have bantams, regular sized and even guineas in the same coop... Yeah the guineas are bullies to everyone but not blood causing or overly aggressive, mostly they just push for first dibs on treats and cut in line for food and water, and to be honest they pretty much ignore the bantams completely... My bantams and regular chickens get along just fine as well, they just tend to keep to their own the bantams are hardly 'punching bags' they generally never even have a feather out of place, certainly no more feathers out of place than the regular sized ones...

 

[kbarnes]

Did you separate them or let them work it out? My main concern is size...the bantam chicks are SO small!

I have a big flock of 46 chickens. As babies they all seemed similar sizes, as they started to grow I thought I had something wrong with one of my silver laced Cochin's she wasn't growing as fast and was slower getting her feathers in. I have realised that I have a little banty Cochin. Here's the surprise.... she's on the top of the pecking order. They are all being raised together.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

hey yall I have seen the chicks start when they are about 3 weeks old but just a guess

My BBR games both male and female would tie up at 2-3 weeks and I would find them lying in the brooder pen all with bloody heads, while the momma hen was as unconcerned as could be.

A dab of Carbolated Vaseline rubbed on each and every noggin patched things up nicely until they were 4-6 months old and their belligerency rose to such a level that at that time I had to separate the cockerels.

 

[lisaburris1968]

Hi all. Ok. I had finally got my babies into there new pen, and my beautiful loving babies, are now assassins. Got 25 chicks at the same time, and two week, I split them up so they;d have more room. Bad idea. Now my Bantams were seriously getting pecked more than I could bare, so i took the terrified 5 and brought them back in. Now they are fighting among themselves, and the other birds out in the pen are figuring out whos boss. Since I observed they seemed to be keeping the lower on the chain birds away from the one supply of food and water area....i thought id outwit them by putting three more in there. Ha!!! So there. I've been gone from their sight now for about a half hour, and getting ready to go take a peek. Ok, question....I only reintroduced the babies yesterday., pulled the bantams out late last night,....something tells me to just make two sides to the pen, and quit visually separating them. Ideally having a side for the less aggressive birds, and the bullies. then as pecking order continues, moving the less bird to the nicer bird side, and the new mean bird from the nice side back over to the mean side, and keep doing that until the power bird, has been reduced to the less bird, and like a newbie, keep fingers crossed, that the challenges will be less severe among the integrated flock. Sure sounds good in theory....but anyone think its possible?

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Unless you see blood, I wouldn't remove the birds getting picked on. In trying to help, you may make things worse. THEY have to be the ones to stand up for themselves. If you truly have a vicious bird, that would be the one to remove by themselves for a week or two so that they will lose their place in the pecking order. Just remember, that we as humans may see bullies and meaness where there really isn't any since we don't think in chicken terms.

They way your are moving around the birds right now, I feel you'll end up making your "mean birds" more aggressive. Something that you really don't want to do.

 

[lisaburris1968]

I understand and ty. Im a little disappointed in myself that I let my heart get in the way of my head. These chickens are not like the horses and dogs Ive trained. But my compassion for them is golden. And my actions a bit premature. Now Ive just got to work with what Ive created. So far so good on my earlier plan. Rotated 6 birds so far, and one of the Bantams is now king bird, but much gentler than the one that I demoted. per say. No blood...everyone still has all their eyes. And theyre getting bigger by the hour. Unbelievable. Thanks All.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Unless you see blood, I wouldn't remove the birds getting picked on. In trying to help, you may make things worse. THEY have to be the ones to stand up for themselves. If you truly have a vicious bird, that would be the one to remove by themselves for a week or two so that they will lose their place in the pecking order. Just remember, that we as humans may see bullies and meaness where there really isn't any since we don't think in chicken terms.

They way your are moving around the birds right now, I feel you'll end up making your "mean birds" more aggressive. Something that you really don't want to do.

Here is an ovation for you. Chew it well. LOL good luck, and BTW a good post.

 

[nugget2000]

My head of the pecking order is my smallest BO. she matured very quickly though, with a bright red comb and small eggs starting when she was 20 weeks old! And I think seperating them as said may be a good idea. I don't mean to scare you, but sometimes if they are really bullied, the stress causes them to be vulnerable to illness. That happened to some of mine .
Good Luck!

 

[DaniSat]

At 2 days old one of our chicks (a pekin x wyandotte bantam) is pecking at the other two (a cream legbar and especially a small barred wyandotte bantam) rather a lot. We're not sure if this is trying to establish a pecking order or a little bullying. We have two lots of food and water in with them (the one doing the pecking was chasing the smallest away from the first drinker) and have seen them all drink and peck at the food. It's our first time keeping chickens, and we're a little concerned!

Our first hatch didn't quite go to plan, hence only 3 at the moment!