Wyandotte temperaments

[Insnesnakos]

I'm not angry, just confused. I really do have no idea what it is that you're asking.

I think they are asking "How is this worse? Like Wyandotte?"

 

[azurbanclucker]

My experience with Wyandottes has been that they're pretty easygoing and docile, so your observation is interesting to me. I'm kind of wondering if they are just acting like their own little clique since you mention they were handraised away from the flock. The infighting sounds like typical chicken "pecking order" in a flock, so maybe they're just jockeying for position among themselves as a "small flock" inside of your larger group.

I'm no chicken behaviorist, and this is all speculation. it does seem like it kinda makes sense though.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I had 1 for a little over a year, she was stuck up, never friendly with me, and just didn't jive with my orps, so I sold her this last Spring. I think maybe you are just used to how Ops behave in general, and now you have something completely different.

 

[K0k0shka]

I think they are asking "How is this worse? Like Wyandotte?"

Even that doesn't make a lot of sense though... I just don't understand what the question is or how to answer it.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Even that doesn't make a lot of sense though... I just don't understand what the question is or how to answer it.

"chickens gonna chicken" is probably the best answer

 

[K0k0shka]

My experience with Wyandottes has been that they're pretty easygoing and docile, so your observation is interesting to me. I'm kind of wondering if they are just acting like their own little clique since you mention they were handraised away from the flock. The infighting sounds like typical chicken "pecking order" in a flock, so maybe they're just jockeying for position among themselves as a "small flock" inside of your larger group.

I'm no chicken behaviorist, and this is all speculation. it does seem like it kinda makes sense though.

I've had a couple other generations (from the other breeds) raised away from the flock and incorporated at 5 weeks too though, and I didn't notice this behavior with them. The cliquing together with their peer group - definitely, that's to be expected. But not the conflicts within the peer group. So that's why I was wondering if it was a Wyandotte thing.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I've had a couple other generations (from the other breeds) raised away from the flock and incorporated at 5 weeks too though, and I didn't notice this behavior with them. The cliquing together with their peer group - definitely, that's to be expected. But not the conflicts within the peer group. So that's why I was wondering if it was a Wyandotte thing.

*shrug*

It's outside my experience with them (I've had a half dozen over time but always integrated in a larger flock). So I really can't say other than I've never seen that behavior. Doesn't really help you a whole lot though My 'dottes were the friendliest girls in the flock. I had a good yard boss though, she didn't put up with any nonsense and had a group of enforcers to back her up (a Delaware and 4 barred rock thugs). That may have had something to do with it.

 

[K0k0shka]

I had 1 for a little over a year, she was stuck up, never friendly with me, and just didn't jive with my orps, so I sold her this last Spring. I think maybe you are just used to how Ops behave in general, and now you have something completely different.

Yeah, my guess was it's just a different breed having its own quirks. But the 4 of them have a LOT of individual variation between them, too, so maybe that's a factor, too... They cover the entire spectrum of friendliness with humans - from one extreme, where my favorite of the 4 was very social and friendly with people from the start, seeks me out and snuggles with me etc., through a couple of intermediately friendly ones, to the least friendly that won't let me touch or even get near her, and will scream and protest if I try to hold her. All 4 spent the first month of their lives in our house being handled every day by all family members, and while the two middle ones did warm up to humans through exposure, the last one never did, so that seems to be just individual variation. Like with the Barnevelders. Nothing beats the Orps, they are always best all around, especially Papa's

My big dilemma now is whether to care about the in-fighting when picking which of the Wyandottes stays. The two that I want to keep (the most human friendly) don't get along. But they are confident within the main flock, so maybe it doesn't matter.

 

[K0k0shka]

*shrug*

It's outside my experience with them (I've had a half dozen over time but always integrated in a larger flock). So I really can't say other than I've never seen that behavior. Doesn't really help you a whole lot though My 'dottes we the friendliest girls in the flock. I had a good yard boss though, she didn't put up with any nonsense and had a group of enforcers to back her up (a Delaware and 4 barred rock thugs). That may have had something to do with it.

I've noticed considerable variation between chickens of the same breed depending on where they came from - breeder vs. hatchery, and even between breeders, some just have friendlier lines, while others focused too much on colors and the temperament got lost in the selection process. It's all very interesting to me.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I've noticed considerable variation between chickens of the same breed depending on where they came from - breeder vs. hatchery, and even between breeders, some just have friendlier lines, while others focused too much on colors and the temperament got lost in the selection process. It's all very interesting to me.

Careful! Next thing you know you'll be neck-deep in breeds and the standards of perfection for each. It's a slippery slope to full-on "opening a hatchery" from there.