3-4 week old chick being pecked, some blood

[ccrow]

Hi, I am new to the world of chickens... I have 9 golden comet pullets & have been putting them outside in nice weather(southern Maine), in a wire dog crate. Today one of them has been pecked, with broken blood feathers on the tail. I did a search & found advice of using a red light bulb, blu-kote(which I don't have) and/or duct tape. I put some corn starch on the feathers although they really weren't bleeding much. Should I pull out the broken feathers? The chicks are only under a light at night, in the garage. Are they old enough to leave the light off so they can't see to peck at her? They are getting pretty well feathered, & at least some of them don't appear to be staying under the light much, if at all. They are eating chick starter, should I be giving them something more?

 

[MotherJean]

It's possible that the injury is not from being pecked. Sometimes these little guys will do the whole Hop/Fly thing, run into the side of the crate and each other. That being said, you must deal with a blood feather injury in one of two ways. Either mend it or pull it out. In both cases you will need gauze and instant glue (like Super Glue, Krazy Glue). Did you know that those glues were actually invented for surgical purposes? Anyway, I know there are how-to sites available with photos showing how to fix broken blood feathers. Try a Google search on "broken blood feather chicken." If you don't have luck with that, PM me and I'll send you a link I have.