3 day old bully. HELP!

[DogRN]

Ok, so we tried isolating the chick for 24 hours in a separate, smaller brooder to see if that made any type of difference. We also tried hanging metal play-things in the cage in the hopes that the chick will peck at those instead of its cagemates. We are only using mix of two different chick feeds, no sugar or honey. And our heat lamp is a red one. So far, no improvement. The chick was put with the other ones while they explored a small room for a short time, and at first appeared ok. Then, she was back to trying to hurt the other ones again. She is now separated again. This is a tough decision, but we can't risk the other birds being injured and she can't live as a solitary chicken for the rest of her life. I didn't think that we would have to make these kinds of decisions with our babies, and it sucks that it is coming down to this. We are just trying to do all of the right things, but just not having good luck so far being chicken parents. If anyone has any other advice, please let me know. I am welcome to any and all opinions/suggestions on this matter. I just want to make an informed decision.

 

[bbchickies]

How long has it been since you first noticed this? And do the other chicks show signs of stress? Good luck!

 

[Blueberryfairy]

DogRN, I tried reintegrating ours a couple of times after breaks of a couple of days each, but it returned to the aggressive behavior. I'm not sure what caused the breakthrough, because it is now behaving. One may be that we separated it for more than a week without reintegration attempts. The other thing is that the separation took place in a cage in the brooder, so the isolated one could still interact with the others, but not attack them. Fingers crossed, it's been four days with no sign of renewed aggression. If anything, that chick is less aggressive than others.

 

[aggiemae]

I have noticed over time that it takes the average chicken 3 days to forget previous behaviors. We just had a big coop drama when we added our 2013 chicks/pullets. There was not blood letting or major pecking, but after two weeks we were still having bedtime drama with the older hens wanting to roost on both sides of the coop and forcing the five new girls into the center followed by a morning dust up when the newbies where knocked off the roost I had to do something mainly due to the noise.

We finally tossed the older hens out of the roost and let the pullets settle into the coop for about 1/2 hour. As I thought they roosted close together over to one side. The first night let then hens in a bit too soon so the boss hen fought for a spot in the middle of the pullets (BTW, NOT her usual spot) and so there was a short ruckus, but it was nearly dark out and the pullets where already sleeping so didn't budge resulting in the hen quickly settling down. Was was surprised to find the pullets still up on the roost when I opened the coop in the morning.

For the next three night, I shut them in the run but waited till after dark before I shooed the sleeping hens into the coop. One did need to be put up on the roost. One the fourth night I checked after dark and found all nine girls roosting in the new sleeping arrangement and while the pullets are working out their roosting spots the hens are back to roosting in the same order and there is (finally) peace in the coop.

I don't know if this apply to aggression as I have never tried it but I do know that when ever I need to change behavior it takes three days.

 

[chooks4life]

Distraction and altering the hierarchy are usually good tactics for integrating poultry peacefully, not that I've ever tried with vicious ones. There isn't a hen or a rooster I won't eat if it's showing willingness to maim or kill any other bird, so I've not had these problems nor do I have solutions for mitigating them, only stopping them.

On that topic my only real bit of advice left to offer is to never buy from hatcheries. Those chooks tend to arrive weak and deranged, loaded with inherited behavioural issues. Some are fine but that's the exception rather than the rule. However if someone was willing to try to work out these aberrations of mental patterning, it surely must be able to be done, but it will take several generations at the minimum as far as I know. Throughout history people have taken bad breeds and rescued them from themselves, but it's a huge and difficult uphill slog as it's generally easier to breed bad traits in than out. Best wishes.

 

[ChicKind]

Aggiemae: Thank you for the three day tip. I received 10, 2 day old chicks this morning. So far so good. They settled right in and i am enjoying them so much. I have 2 two month olds in the coop outside and have been considering ways to put them together. When the time comes, I'll keep this post in mind!

 

[HennyPenny243]

Hope everything works out well you.

 

[DogRN]

The chick is now separate from the others. We will try putting her back with the others tomorrow. I will keep you all updated. Thank you for your support and advice.