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  • bit worried about chooks fighting

    the chooks haven't been out for a couple of days, so thought i'd let em have a run round the kitchen, whilst i cleaned them out (found about 1/4 bag of shavings ) ...... anyway, they were having fun, especially tormenting cleo, who has now realised that eating them isn't an option, but really really wants them to love her she was trying the cute heatbutting thing on all of them whilst they just looked at her like she's stoopid

    anyway, to the point, coco and buttercup were pushing each other around as usual (they snuggle up together on the perch at night) and they munched on a few slugs, then proceeded to clean pingu and neva's beaks of slug slime, bless em they looked like they were having kisses, but all of a sudden, elvira started attacking buttercup in that chickeny foot first way that cockerels do, and looking at her head, she seems to have developed a big comb, like the 2 boys, and i'm really worried that she might be a boy too though her legs aren't quite as thick, but looking at some marans chickens earlier, the boys are darker than the girls, and she seems to be more dark, though i'm hoping it might be cos she's crossed with something ??????????

    then horror of horrors about half an hour later phoenix did the same to coco, and they had a proper big scrap which resulted in phoenix (half the size of coco) knocking him off his feet and ending up with a beak full of feathers, looking at her/his legs, in comparison to the big boys they are thinner, but as thick as the definite girls legs, but she/he is very small and totally different breeding/size/shape but still a tiny comb (possibly cream legbar???) ....... so now i'm in a panic, that i might actually have 4 boys after all

    do you think it's just them sorting out pecking orders, or am i likely to get a proper cock fight with bloodshed on my hands?? i'm worried now
    Last edited by lynda66; 06-02-2009, 01:09 AM.

  • #2
    I really hope it isn't four boys, that would be so unfair. Statistically it's pretty unlikely that you wouldn't get at least one girl, so fingers crossed for you.

    It could be a pecking order thing, couldn't it, or maybe the equivalent of some sort of chook adolescence? I don't know if they even go through stages of emotional development, but I remember my dogs had a definite stage of lets'-see-how-far-we-can-push-the-boundaries when they were coming out of puppyhood
    http://www.justgiving.com/Vicky-Berr...-Marathon-2010

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    • #3
      It will probably be the same as any single sexed animal brought up together, they will fight themeselves kind. Establishing a pecking order as you say.
      I think by giving them names it is going to make it hard for you if you have to use them for coq-au van or chicken in a basket!

      Good luck wiv em!
      My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
      to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

      Diversify & prosper


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      • #4
        My two cockerels are 'brothers' and grew up together- and I was worried about them fighting ( I had to leave them and the girls indoors over the week of Xmas )but talking to the locals, they said quite reassuringly that they'll never 'fight ' as such because they had been brought up together.
        I suppose they'd sorted out their pecking order a bit at a time like yours are doing now Lynda???Au Vin is clearly the boss over Paxo...but they share the gals equally and share 'guard duty'

        I think you are right..tis a pecking order thing! ( you should see some of the bossy behaviour which comes from Betty- to both the guys and the gals!)
        It's just not nice watching one chook yanking another around by it's neck feathers is it?
        "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

        Location....Normandy France

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        • #5
          i hope you're all right coco has the lead slightly over buttercup, but they don't really fight, just the odd bit of, i'm bigger than you when i stand on my tip toes and can do my strangled goose impression betterer

          was just the ferocity of phoenix, kinda shocked me, pingu and neva just get on with scoffing tis their favourite hobby

          maybe it was the having extra room too, it's a bit cramped in the playpen now, (even though it's 4 times the space of a battery hen) ..... they don't seem to scrap in there, just push each other around a bit.

          oh well i guess i'll just have to wait and see, and hope

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          • #6
            I've always been led to believe that in cuckoo marans the girls are darker than the boys....

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            • #7
              Having just said all that.........

              Alice was in with the girls and the boys were hanging around clearly bored when I popped in to check on the chick- and I noticed the boys with their heads down facing each other.
              At first I thought they were looking at something on the floor- so I went to have a look. Their neck feathers were out like a frill and I thought 'gosh it's windy' ( as you do...) and noticed they were slightly shaking their heads at each other- and suddenly they both jumped into the air with their feet forwards and had a proper scrap!
              After 2 or 3 goes of this ( I was starting to think Paxo would soon have to go in a casserole)and a bit of side stepping/shuffling they just stopped and started eating!
              Clearly Au Vin came out the boss...and now that Alice has gone out to play, they're both happy again!

              Most interesting to watch- although I was rather concerned at the time- I just wonder if they've done that before but I've never seen it?

              Bored boys...such a pain eh?
              "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

              Location....Normandy France

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              • #8
                Originally posted by CoraxAurata View Post
                I've always been led to believe that in cuckoo marans the girls are darker than the boys....
                yeah that's what i meant lol ......

                http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/C...BRKMarans.html

                looking at the piccies on the link, she is much more cock coloured than the darker girlies though, she is a crossbreed, as the bloke i got them off doesn't have cuckoo colours)

                oh i dunno now i've just studied her, she does look girly lol ..... it's hard work this chicken sexing stuff innit lol
                Last edited by lynda66; 06-02-2009, 12:44 PM.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by lynda66 View Post
                  ..... it's hard work this chicken sexing stuff innit lol
                  Unless you're a chicken...
                  All the best - Glutton 4 Punishment
                  Freelance shrub butcher and weed removal operative.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Nicos View Post
                    Having just said all that.........

                    Clearly Au Vin came out the boss...and now that Alice has gone out to play, they're both happy again!

                    Most interesting to watch- although I was rather concerned at the time- I just wonder if they've done that before but I've never seen it?

                    Bored boys...such a pain eh?
                    see, i expect it from the boys, males have to show their girlies they are getting the best genes, like i said coco and buttercup, have the occasional tussle just wasn't expecting phoenix to be quite so vicious, if she is a cream legbar (could be anything really lol) but the males are lighter (got it right this time) and i think his/her feathering looks more like a boy than a girl, ....... though obviously i don't know the exact parentage .... but she/he is very flighty much more so than the others.

                    i think a top tip here is, although mixed breed chicks are good cos they all look different ...... it's actually a pain cos they don't do colours like pure breeds do
                    Last edited by lynda66; 06-02-2009, 12:56 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Glutton4... View Post
                      Unless you're a chicken...
                      well yeah, just wish they'd tell me how they do it lol

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by lynda66 View Post
                        yeah that's what i meant lol ......

                        http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/C...BRKMarans.html

                        looking at the piccies on the link, she is much more cock coloured than the darker girlies though, she is a crossbreed, as the bloke i got them off doesn't have cuckoo colours)

                        oh i dunno now i've just studied her, she does look girly lol ..... it's hard work this chicken sexing stuff innit lol

                        Very my first batch (the mixed colours) we thought I had 7 boys and 1 girl for ages! it was completetely wrong only 2 boys!

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                        • #13
                          It may work on yours - they're about 10 weeks now aren't they? look at their chins if they have the red lobes starting they are more likely to be boys...

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                          • #14
                            they are 8 weeks yesterday ...... coco is definitely a boy ...... he does strangled goose noises lol (trying to crow) he has chin lobes, buttercup also has them and i'm certain he's a boy, enormous legs and huge .....

                            elvira also has them so unsure now.... the other 3 dont.

                            picture 1 buttercup smiling for camera

                            pic 2 coco, bad pic but can see the red bits

                            pic 3 coco in the middle

                            pic 4 buttercup and elvira.

                            sorry not the best of piccies, but the batteries ran out lol
                            Attached Files
                            Last edited by lynda66; 06-02-2009, 11:42 PM.

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                            • #15
                              pic 1 elvira

                              pic 2 phoenix and neva

                              pic 3 phoenix

                              pic 4 pingu
                              Attached Files
                              Last edited by lynda66; 06-02-2009, 11:40 PM.

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