Questions about Ameraucana Chick with eye pecking behavior..

Hello! I'm new here to BYC as well as raising chicken in general. This is my first season trying my hand at them and so far I've had my share of good and bad luck. My first try at chickens were squashed when my 7 three week old birds (3 buttercups, 2 golden sex-links and 2 Easter eggers) were taken out by a creature in the night (either cat or small dog) that pulled the wire off the side of their coop and ate my sweet birds. (the coop's chicken wire had since been reinforced with U nails and roofing nails rather than staples) I figured I'd give things a second try and went got more chicks.

But as for the issue at hand: With this new batch of chicks I got 6 golden sex-links, 2 ameruacana, a barred rock and a Salmon favorelle. Everyone gets along very good with no problems save for my gray Ameraucana.

When I got her home I noticed she had an issue with her eyes. She had a scabbed area around both eyes (perhaps she was a victim of eye pecking herself) and also that she couldn't close he eyes fully when she sleeps. I think it’s something to do with her lower lid (I believe the third lid in intact cause it looks like she can blink, but it's so fast it's hard to tell). But since I got her home she's started pecking eyes of any bird she gets close to but there's something about my poor sweet Barred Rock that she just can't stand.

I would check on the chicks often but found my Barred Rock was exhausted because the Ameruacana wouldn't stop harassing her even to the point of shredding her little comb but her eyes look fine despite the constant abuse.

I took some chicken wire and made a divider and put her on one side, separating her from the others. I have the food and water against the wire on the other side with the good chicks and she can easily stick her head through the fencing to get water and food no problem (I've watched her do so, so I know for sure). She's calmed down a little on her side but will sometimes peck at birds that get too close only this time they can now simply get away from her when she gets in a mood.

My barred rock is doing much better now that she can get some sleep and her comb looks good, but If I put the Ameruacana back with the other chicks (after two days of separation) she will zero in on the Barred Rock and peck at her comb with no hesitation.

Now, I'm wondering if there is something in addition to what I’m doing that can done to calm this bitter bird down, or do I just have to wait it out and she'll grow out of it... or do I just have a mean bird on my hands that can't be integrated into her new chicken family?

Oh, and the two Ameruacanas are probably a few days, close to a week, older than the other birds if that helps but the brown and gray isn't mean like the full gray one.

(Ugh, I'm sorry this was so long, I just wanted to make sure I got everything in there! Heh)

You have 10 chicks. How old are they? What are you using for a brooder, for heat, how big is the brooder, and what is the temp under the heat source? Some of the answers to these questions may help to solve your problem. Are you using a red heat lamp? That might help. Too much heat can make chicks aggressive. Try decreasing the heat. Crowding can cause aggression. 10 chicks should have about 10 sq. feet for starters, and will benefit from 2 s.f./bird by the time they are 3 - 4 weeks old. But, one thing that might even work better at reducing aggression is to use a heating pad brooder. For your size brood, you'd want an extra large. Sunbeam XPress Heat makes a pad that will stay on constantly, while most of the other models being offered now, have an automatic off feature that makes them useless for our needs!

I'm pretty sure they're 4 to 5 days old with the Ameraucana's are probably around 8 or 9. I have them in a 5 sqft box with a white heat light, but I have heard the red is better for blood and such. I try to keep the heat around 95 to 90. I can make a larger brooder if that will help. And I'll definitely look into the heating pads as well! Thank you for your suggestions! I really appreciate it!

Brooder is 5 feet by 5 feet...or 5 square feet total?

They need a warm spot and a cool spot.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker integration to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later i still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

The brooder is 5 square foot total, but I'm going to start on getting them in something bigger today. They don't look to be over-heated since they walk and run around with no panting or wings away from the body. I have a temperature gun I use to judge the heat of the floor, but I'll bring an ambient air thermometer to judge the air temp rather than just the floor.

I also like the idea of a dimmer switch being as how I have to raise and lower their lamp to control the heat to the birds. Thank you!