Rural Gardening: Chicks with attitudes?, 1 by 1AnjL

1AnjL wrote:
I am new to chickens... really new! I got these baby chicks on 7/18 and the feed store sales man said they were day old chicks... not sure how long they were day old chicks though!

If its true, then they are now approx 3 weeks old now.

One of the black chicks has a really bad attitude... or likes to peck everything really hard! everytime I put my hand in their box to lift them out, etc... big mean black bird comes over and pecks really hard at my hands and fingers. actually grabs skin too!

Is this normal? none of the others do this. They all (even Meanie aka Dinner if doesnt stop) let me hold them, and pet them. once Meanie is in my hands, he (I believe he may be a he) is checking things out and pretty calm. but as soon as I put him/her back and try to hold another ... he flies across the box and starts pecking at me again.

Is this part of them establishing pecking order? or are they even starting that yet? and if its a behaviour problem, is there any way to break him/her of it?

Also would be interested in finding out if they are only 3 weeks old... or maybe older. They doubled in size just in the past few days! are almost fully feathered now too.