4 chicks have bloodied tails. What do I do?

[apostoliclady]

I have about 30 chicks in a brooder. There are several different breeds, but all the same age-3 weeks old. They have all 'grown up' together. As of today, my only 4 white cochins have had all their tail feather plucked out by the other birds. They are bloodied. I put some antibacterial ointment on them and separated them from the rest of the group. Now they are picking at each other. What do I do?

 

[Germaine_11.20]

One thing that will help is to use a red light and not a clear light in the brooder. Red helps them to not pick so much for some reason. Other than separating them also from each other I might use Blu Kote. I have used that to mark my white birds before and it is used for wounds on animals.

The blue that it will color their behinds might mask the red bloodied bottoms that are a lure for the others to peck. Chickens will go for the red and peck each other to death sometimes. I used a pink ziptie to mark one of my baby Marans a few days ago and when I put it back in the brooder--the other bigger birds singled it out and started dragging it around. At first I didn't understand why and then it dawned on me. Pink looked like blood.

You could also put a few hiding places that the chicks can run to for shelter if they are being picked on. Out of sight, sometimes out of mind.