My Buff orpingtons are mean.

[misshell]

So I’ve noticed my BO hog all the food and fight my gold sex links all the time, particularly one gold sex link who likes to go hide in the coop away from them. Why are they like this?? I thought BO were supposed to be nice!

 

[Tom Kathleen]

Welcome to the chicken world! For every "the best breed is _______" there are exceptions. Hopefully they will figure it out and get the pecking order down and they'll stop being jerks. Once other chickens know how to act, wait their turn, it usually goes away. RIR roos are supposed to be really agressive, we have one that is the most chill rooster ever. Amberlinks are known for mild temperaments, we have one who is a mean girl. Sorry you got a gutsy broad of a BO!

 

[azygous]

It's normal behavior. Chickens lord it over the younger ones. They bully them away from the feeder. This can be more than just annoying, though.

Different age groups will tend to gang up on the others, and this can result in some not getting the calories and nourishment they require. Multiple feeding stations are required when you have a mixed flock.

Right now, I have two sets of different aged chicks. Both groups require more feed per day than the adults since they're still growing. I have a partitioned run so I can close off sections. This comes in handy to feed the four-month olds and the eight-week olds. They all learn quickly where their feeding station is, and they head there when I dish out their fermented feed.

The younger chicks need feeding three times a day, and they wouldn't get the amount of food they need if all the chickens had access to their food dish, so I close them off until they finish their food.

It's a pain, but necessary until their food requirements ease and then everyone can eat at the same time. But I still provide numerous feeding stations so everyone can avoid their bullies and end up getting what they need.

 

[misshell]

It's normal behavior. Chickens lord it over the younger ones. They bully them away from the feeder. This can be more than just annoying, though.

Different age groups will tend to gang up on the others, and this can result in some not getting the calories and nourishment they require. Multiple feeding stations are required when you have a mixed flock.

Right now, I have two sets of different aged chicks. Both groups require more feed per day than the adults since they're still growing. I have a partitioned run so I can close off sections. This comes in handy to feed the four-month olds and the eight-week olds. They all learn quickly where their feeding station is, and they head there when I dish out their fermented feed.

The younger chicks need feeding three times a day, and they wouldn't get the amount of food they need if all the chickens had access to their food dish, so I close them off until they finish their food.

It's a pain, but necessary until their food requirements ease and then everyone can eat at the same time. But I still provide numerous feeding stations so everyone can avoid their bullies and end up getting what they need.

Thanks for that. Sounds like a lot of work! They are two days younger than my gold sex links and smaller too. Not sure where all this attitude is coming from.

 

[The Happster]

I've found they're not usually people-aggressive, but a lot are pretty aggressive to other birds.
The cockerels are often docile. I've had no problem with any BO males. I have had hens that are pretty nasty. That's pretty much the average female chicken though.

 

[K0k0shka]

Orps are little gluttons who LOVE food and are thus prone to obesity. Maybe what you're seeing isn't so much that they aren't nice, but that they love their food a little too much, and get obsessed with it, hogging it for themselves and chasing others away. Also, Orpingtons get big, and may have a size advantage over your other breeds even at the same age, thus giving them more leverage to climb the pecking order, even if they are otherwise sweet.

I have Orpingtons (not Buff, but a few other colors) together with Barnevelders. They are all the same age (21 weeks) but the Orpingtons are twice the size of the Barnevelders, so they push them around. Nothing too bad, just the usual pecking order stuff. The Orpingtons are OBSESSED with food, and will hog it. The poor little Barnevelders hang around the periphery and wait for the Orps to finish, before they come up to the feeder. What helps is that their main feed is available all the time, so they can just wait until the Orps have finished, and then go and eat. The drama usually happens when I'm giving out treats, or something else of a smaller quantity. I just make sure to spread it out in several places so everybody can reach it.

 

[misshell]

Orps are little gluttons who LOVE food and are thus prone to obesity. Maybe what you're seeing isn't so much that they aren't nice, but that they love their food a little too much, and get obsessed with it, hogging it for themselves and chasing others away. Also, Orpingtons get big, and may have a size advantage over your other breeds even at the same age, thus giving them more leverage to climb the pecking order, even if they are otherwise sweet.

I have Orpingtons (not Buff, but a few other colors) together with Barnevelders. They are all the same age (21 weeks) but the Orpingtons are twice the size of the Barnevelders, so they push them around. Nothing too bad, just the usual pecking order stuff. The Orpingtons are OBSESSED with food, and will hog it. The poor little Barnevelders hang around the periphery and wait for the Orps to finish, before they come up to the feeder. What helps is that their main feed is available all the time, so they can just wait until the Orps have finished, and then go and eat. The drama usually happens when I'm giving out treats, or something else of a smaller quantity. I just make sure to spread it out in several places so everybody can reach it.

Thats a good idea. I should spread the treats all throughout the run too. They are all the same age. My BO are a lot smaller than my gold sex links so far. They are only four months old though. So funny they are fat girls at heart. I really didn't expect that at all! Makes sense why they never turn anything down when I offer while my sex links are usually more interested in me than the treat. The BO haven't been very friendly to us either. Maybe their parents were mean and its a genetic thing. I'm loving my sex links. They've always been friendly and let me pick them up.

 

[misshell]

I've found they're not usually people-aggressive, but a lot are pretty aggressive to other birds.
The cockerels are often docile. I've had no problem with any BO males. I have had hens that are pretty nasty. That's pretty much the average female chicken though.

I ended up having two cockerels in the bunch, but got rid of them recently. One was very intimidating, but never flat out mean. The other was a fun little juvenile.

 

[LizzzyJo]

My BO is very friendly to people, but is the bottom of the pecking order. For as nice as she is to people, she is ruthless to chicks. She has ripped them to shreds before. I hate her now. I try not to but I do.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Mine is an absolute hog and is a bully.
Give them time.