3 week old buff orp pecked by other chicks. Help!

[skylavaulter]

Ok. Well I guess we need to get that coop done by this weekend! I just noticed another orp that has her tail feathers messed with. Do I remove her too? Can she go in with the other one or her own separate area? This is a nightmare!

 

[skylavaulter]

Smart! Never thought of connecting them. Maybe we will do that for the time being...if I can figure a way to cat proof moving boxes :/

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Do you have a roll of chicken wire or something strong enough to cover the boxes and keep the cat out. Or lock the cat out of the room.
I hatched on New Years day last year and it was one of our worst winters ever. It hit -19 one night and there was no way to put the chicks out. I ended up with a row of 5 moving boxes in the cellar. Quite the apartment building. There was a heat room, a food room, a water room and 2 lounges.

I'd give the protein some serious though.
I make my own chick starter with a 16% grower feed and mix it 10:1 with 60% fishmeal to achieve a 20% feed.
I cut out the fishmeal last year after about 8 weeks and they started eating each other. It was confinement, boredom and low protein. Once I upped the protein again, problem solved.
Feathers are 90+% protein and they start eating them for protein and once the area is bare they start eating skin and then muscle.

 

[skylavaulter]

Cannibals! They're ALL in time out! I left the four biggest in the brooder and separated the rest in groups of two or three depending on size and breed (not sure if breed makes a difference?) the one with the open area is by herself. Cats are outside. The only issue is heat. It's warm in here (about 75) and they all have buddies to snuggle against. That's the best I can do for now. I have to leave for work.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You're good. 75 is ok for a while at 3 weeks with buddies.

 

[skylavaulter]

Thank you. Do you think they would be ok for a few days without heat lamps at 75*? I'm looking at our temporary set up and with all those boxes I can't see how I'm going to get heat to all of them without going out and spending a fortune on 5 more heat lamps and bulbs. Not too mention how to regulate heat in moving boxes (???) If they can just wait a few days, we can get them all outside to the coop!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's probably warm enough.
I'd tape the boxes in a row and cut doorways between them just cut on 3 sides so you can close the doors to separate them if necessary. Then put the heat in one box. The added space will solve many of the problems. If you find they stay away from the heat, just turn it off.
Constant light, like from an infrared heat lamp will add agitation and stress. I use ceramic emitters now so I can limit them to 8 hours of light after the first week.
Also, if you find they still want some heat, it doesn't have to come from a heat lamp. Any incandescent or halogen lamp would probably put out enough heat when ambient temp is 70+, You can wrap the lamp with aluminum foil to shield the light.