4 day old Serama chick pulling wing

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Scovy Momma

Scovy Momma

Songster
9 Years
Jan 21, 2012
1,544
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Lincoln CA
My 4 day old chick just started pulling his wing (like he would be preening) & crying. I don't know what it is, does anyone else have an idea or ever seen this before? He is a singleton I hatched out of 10. Everything else has seemed very normal with eating & drinking. Food was able to distract him. I felt both wings to see if the one seemed to hurt but no response. I filmed a little of this behavior that just started about two hours ago.


Thank you.
 
Last edited:
If he's the only one to hatch, then it can't be mites or lice etc. Maybe its boredom? I know that some dogs can self harm through boredom and stress - maybe chickens do also.

Why not try taking it outside in a small coop for a while and see if new surroundings will discourage his behaviour?

Good luck
CT
 
I had a two day old Welsummer cockerel chick do that. He had one emerging pin feather that he would grab hold of and pull until he spun himself around. He would cry as if in distress or mad while he did it and he did it until the pin feather was bloody. I finally coated the little wing with a mixture of triple antibiotic ointment and vasoline which stopped it in it's tracks.

He wasn't a lone chick, he had 11 other chicks with him so it wasn't boredom. I think the pin feather just bothered him. After that, the big problem was washing the goop out of his wing. Took forever.
 
microchick said:
I had a two day old Welsummer cockerel chick do that. He had one emerging pin feather that he would grab hold of and pull until he spun himself around. He would cry as if in distress or mad while he did it and he did it until the pin feather was bloody. I finally coated the little wing with a mixture of triple antibiotic ointment and vasoline which stopped it in it's tracks.

He wasn't a lone chick, he had 11 other chicks with him so it wasn't boredom. I think the pin feather just bothered him. After that, the big problem was washing the goop out of his wing. Took forever.
Click to expand...


I tried what you did & it seems to work! He does not like the taste. I only have All Purpose Pet Balm on hand but if need be I can go get Vaseline. I'm off work today so I can keep an eye on him. He started in on the other wing sometime after I went to sleep.
Thank you so much for the suggestion!
 

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