4 week old chick pecking out frizzle's feathers!

[Yellow321]

Help. I have 6 chicks of various breeds in a brooder. 4 weeks old. All are fine except my darn easter egger chick is CONSTANTLY pecking at and pulling out my one frizzle chick's new growing feathers! The frizzle baby's feathers are of course different looking and stick out more than the other standard feathered chicks but NONE of the other ones care about her feathers. Only this easter egger that is obsessed with them and pecks and pulls until they break off or come completely out. What do I do about this? It's all day everyday. I take them all out a few times a day to get some space to play and run and treats and such, and when I see her doing it, I lightly 'peck' her on her back until she stops. But she's obsessed with them and putting then back in the brooder she goes right for them. Unfortunately the frizzle just stands there and ignores her pecking her feathers. Not sure why she doesn't move away or correct her! It's not a bullying act. She just walks over and starts in on those frizzly feathers. Not in a mean way. It's as if they're just 'there' and frilly and she feels the urge to peck at them! What do I do?

 

[azygous]

These compulsive behaviors are tough. I hate to admit it, not enjoying being a downer, but they often go unresolved for the lifetime of the chickens. I don't think there's ever been a time in the sixteen years I've kept chickens that i haven't had someone plucking another's feathers. And yes, often it's due to the victim being unusual in some way.

In the early days, I tried an axle grease-like preparation called "Pick-no-mor". Not only did it not help at all, it ruined the feathers of the victim it was applied to. Don't even go there.

With baby chicks, there is sometimes a window where you can discipline the behavior successfully by pecking the chick when they exhibit the bad behavior. I've had pretty good success with it. You do need to spend time at it, though. Just doing it every once in a while won't cut it.

At four weeks, your chicks are beginning to notice the timid ones and the bold ones will be triggered to bully them (pecking order). Yours are a little young still for remedial treatment to bolster the timid one's self confidence, but here's an article I wrote that describes the plan to get the timid one to quit inviting the bullying. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/ Often these victims are feather picking victims, too.

There's still time to increase the discipline on your problem chick. I would give that a serious effort. You can also use Blu-kote to paint on any exposed skin to make it less attractive to the feather picker. It also heals any skin that gets injured in the picking.

Give us updates on how things are progressing. And good luck.

 

[Yellow321]

These compulsive behaviors are tough. I hate to admit it, not enjoying being a downer, but they often go unresolved for the lifetime of the chickens. I don't think there's ever been a time in the sixteen years I've kept chickens that i haven't had someone plucking another's feathers. And yes, often it's due to the victim being unusual in some way.

In the early days, I tried an axle grease-like preparation called "Pick-no-mor". Not only did it not help at all, it ruined the feathers of the victim it was applied to. Don't even go there.

With baby chicks, there is sometimes a window where you can discipline the behavior successfully by pecking the chick when they exhibit the bad behavior. I've had pretty good success with it. You do need to spend time at it, though. Just doing it every once in a while won't cut it.

At four weeks, your chicks are beginning to notice the timid ones and the bold ones will be triggered to bully them (pecking order). Yours are a little young still for remedial treatment to bolster the timid one's self confidence, but here's an article I wrote that describes the plan to get the timid one to quit inviting the bullying. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/ Often these victims are feather picking victims, too.

There's still time to increase the discipline on your problem chick. I would give that a serious effort. You can also use Blu-kote to paint on any exposed skin to make it less attractive to the feather picker. It also heals any skin that gets injured in the picking.

Give us updates on how things are progressing. And good luck.

Thank you for this. I've been trying to discipline it when I'm around but of course I'm not around all day everyday to sit and stare at the chicks all day! I come home and see more featherloss on little frizzie. I just wish the frizzie would at least WALK AWAY when the other starts in. She just ignores her pecking her feathers! Like I said, it's not a bullying thing. It's more just "I'm bored...oh this looks interesting let me peck at it." Maybe ill try and dangle some shiny stuff in their brooder to maybe redirect interest?

It's not down to the skin yet because she's just pecking at the frilly frizzly parts. But it ends up pulling out an entire feather in the process. Ugh.

They'll be moving to their larger run in the next week or so, so I'm hoping she will have more space and other things to do besides mess with the frizzie feathers.

I never even wanted a frizzle. This one was a gamble from the bantam bin at tractor supply!