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Something eating the skin from baby chicks' heads!

post #1 of 17
6/14/12 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
This is horrific! Something keeps eating the skin off of the heads of my baby chicks overnight. It's happened to two healthy chicks so far. One yesterday morning, and one this morning. Both chicks had just hatched and were fluffed up and healthy. Everyone else in the nest is fine!

My two silkie hens are hatching and brooding the chicks. They're in my garage in the bottom half of a dog crate, there's no top snapped on to it. They have a corner of the garage with straw so they can get out and walk around and their nest is in the crate with the food and water just outside of it. The garage door has been shut. The only other creatures in the garage that I know of are a couple other chickens. A broody OEG who is very docile and sitting on a pile of eggs she hid in a box back on a shelf. (Sneaky lady!) And a little batam OEG chick who has no friends, his other hatch mate died and the Silkies didn't want him. I cant catch him, so he just lurks around the garage under the shelves. (My garage is a barn, we don't really use it for anything except storage in sealed boxes.)

What could be happening to my poor chicks?? There are tons of giant camel crickets in the garage that come out at night. They couldn't be eating baby chicks, could they? That would freak me out. There could be a random squirrel or something hiding out in there that I haven't found I guess. It's weird that only a lone chick has been hurt each time. I don't know what to think.

Tonight I'm going to leave the light in there on. Maybe that will help. Poor little scalped chicks. sad.png
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post #2 of 17
6/14/12 at 1:27pm

Well- as far as crickets you cant leave crickets in with lizards cuz they (the crickets) will eat the lizard's skin if given the chance. (and those are the tiny crickets smaller then the distance between the dragons eyes)

 

Mice or rats might do that- I just ended some fruit rats (AKA -roof rats, brown rats) for this and feather stealing.

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post #3 of 17
6/14/12 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
Completely grossed out at the thought of giant crickets eating my chicks. AAAH! What can I do?
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post #4 of 17
6/14/12 at 2:09pm

Um... can you close then up more for now?

 

Not sure, those are really big bugs so just putting the lid on and making the door closed should be ok?

 

How big are the holes in the create?  could you wrap it in something?

 

If there something like vanilla scent that crickets don't like? (vanilla helps a little against flys)

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post #5 of 17
6/14/12 at 3:07pm

Sorry to hear about this.  I can't really believe that crickets are at fault.  I am willing to be wrong, but what you've described means that something with teeth is after your chicks.  After you secure the chicks as well as you can, try setting a mousetrap or rat trap (or both) under a milk crate to see if you get anythig.

-Pete

 

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-Pete

 

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post #6 of 17
6/14/12 at 4:07pm

large enough crickets and small enough chicks...

 

Can you move them to a cat crate and fix the door, open it in the morning?

 

 

Quote:
Never leave crickets in the (bearded dragon) cage overnight, especially with babies. They can serious hurt babies by munching on them as food.

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post #7 of 17
6/14/12 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
All of my crates have holes big enough for crickets to squeeze through. They are HUGE crickets though. Like the size of a man's thumb. Freak monster crickets.

I might be able to put them in a big tote box and put the lid on. I have a couple with air holes drilled in them, but I've never used those when it's so hot out. And I wonder if the crickets would get in through the air holes.

I'm afraid a chicken would get caught in a mouse trap, hah! There are a couple of stray ones living in there, but none that would hurt the chicks. A docile broody hen and a partially feathered banty roo who is terrified of everything.

I guess nasty crickets were never on my predator worries list. Tonight I'm going to spotlight the crate with heat lamps, only I'm going to put those curly bulbs in them that don't get hot. Maybe that will make the crickets shy away. I'll also set some cut open raw potatoes on the other side of the garage for the crickets to eat instead. Hope it's not something else creepy living in there besides the crickets!

It really could be a starving cricket issue. The garage door used to stay cracked so the crickets could get out at night. Now that the broodies and chicks are in there we've been keeping the door closed up tight, so the crickets are trapped without food and there are thousands of them!
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post #8 of 17
6/14/12 at 4:31pm

Could you make a cricket trap, they prefer veggies...

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post #9 of 17
6/14/12 at 4:35pm

Yikes!  This sounds like a a plague that I have read about in the Bible!!  hmm.png

(I didn't know that crickets would eat flesh...yuck!)

~Beulah D.gif

2 RIR's----Klara and Addie

2 CuckooMaran's----Lucy and Ethel

 

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Looking Back----Praise Him

Looking Ahead----Trust Him

Looking Around---Serve Him

Looking Up-------Expect Him!

 

 

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2 RIR's----Klara and Addie

2 CuckooMaran's----Lucy and Ethel

 

IN ALL DIRECTIONS...

Looking Back----Praise Him

Looking Ahead----Trust Him

Looking Around---Serve Him

Looking Up-------Expect Him!

 

 

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post #10 of 17
6/14/12 at 5:10pm

What if you just set the box up off the floor at night? My broody and her chicks are in a similar situation in the storage attached to my carport. We get those awful crickets too, and I dunno what else could be hanging out in there, so I put the dog kennel up on a plastic storage bin. Haven't had any creepy crawlies yet! I also set the top on it at night because I'm paranoid, but it sounds like your garage is pretty secure, so you may not need to.

 

Wouldn't take but a sec to put it up at night and set it back down in the morning. Just a thought! Good luck with the babies!

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1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Naked Necks, 1 Cochin, 1 Easter Egger, 7 barnyard bantams, 3 Rouens, Pheobe the Aussie, Wally - Nermal - Bea - and Sassy the cats....and now a whole 'herd' of new chickens: chantaclers, orloffs, wyandottes, rocks, sussex, new hamps, and brahmas, along with Pippen and Squeak the button quails.

 

 

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"Why yes, I was raised in a barn."

 

1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Naked Necks, 1 Cochin, 1 Easter Egger, 7 barnyard bantams, 3 Rouens, Pheobe the Aussie, Wally - Nermal - Bea - and Sassy the cats....and now a whole 'herd' of new chickens: chantaclers, orloffs, wyandottes, rocks, sussex, new hamps, and brahmas, along with Pippen and Squeak the button quails.

 

 

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BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Predators and Pests › Something eating the skin from baby chicks' heads!