6 week old chicks pecking eachother

Justmewithchix

Chirping
Apr 16, 2023
17
78
56
NW Florida
So I've got my just about 6 weeks old flock of Buff Orpington chicks, I've got 19 to the flock, I moved them to the outdoor coop/run about a week ago as they had started to bully each other to the point of bleeding, about a day or two ago now I started to notice that some chicks are missing feathers/have broken and bleeding feathers at the tail again and im trying to catch them as I see them to bring them in and get them doctored up before putting them back with the flock again, and I'm just wondering what may be prompting this???
I started giving them access to a large run during the day, they're just little so its a huge space for them. I tried to clutter it a little bit with some scrap wood pallets/panel fragments i had laying around, but is there something I can do to try to alleviate this behavior a bit? I had four just today I had to bring in to clean up because the dried blood was drawing the others' attention, so I'm a little concerned. This seems a bit much for just a pecking order establishment among the flock.
 
Show us some pictures. And give us some measurements. Almost always it is over crowding that causes problems.
The run is about 37'x37', the coop is about 8'x6' roughly, but we are allowing them access to the larger space of the run during the day. I haven't taken more recent pictures than these yet (took these when we first moved them), but this is the space they're in, I've since cluttered it a bit with some wood panels and pieces of pallets we had to give them stuff to climb on and hide under, both inside the coop and out in the run, but not enough to make moving around an issue. I can't imagine that space is the problem. It was before I moved them to the coop, but they have ample space now.
 

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I think your space is fine too - that generally is the problem. And I don't see any obvious roosters...

How is your feed set up. You might try feeding in 5-6 spots, set up so that a bird eating in one spot, cannot see the birds eating in another spot.

It could just be a bad habit, started in the brooder. If you have some time, sit out there and really watch what is going on. Take a good squirt gun, and take a shot at any bullying behavior.

I am suspecting it is one or two birds - and then the others follow suit. It surprises me though that the victims can't escape in that much space. Adding a lot more clutter might help. Or rearranging it, I know it sounds odd, but kind of makes it look strange, and seems to make everyone equally uncomfortable.

If you can identify a couple of bullies - stick them back in the brooder for a couple of days. Some times that will help.

Or to be honest - just do what you are doing...with that much space, this might just work itself out.

Mrs K
 
It might be that because stuff changed, they got scared and a couple of bullies are being a rather large problem because they're nervous already.
Maybe try more chicken toys? Hanging cabbage, jungle gym, etc?
Mrs. K has probably the best answer. Sit with them and a squirt gun. Sometimes they just need a reminder to not pick on everyone else.
 
I think your space is fine too - that generally is the problem. And I don't see any obvious roosters...

How is your feed set up. You might try feeding in 5-6 spots, set up so that a bird eating in one spot, cannot see the birds eating in another spot.

It could just be a bad habit, started in the brooder. If you have some time, sit out there and really watch what is going on. Take a good squirt gun, and take a shot at any bullying behavior.

I am suspecting it is one or two birds - and then the others follow suit. It surprises me though that the victims can't escape in that much space. Adding a lot more clutter might help. Or rearranging it, I know it sounds odd, but kind of makes it look strange, and seems to make everyone equally uncomfortable.

If you can identify a couple of bullies - stick them back in the brooder for a couple of days. Some times that will help.

Or to be honest - just do what you are doing...with that much space, this might just work itself out.

Mrs K
I had previously been leaving the feeder and one of the two waterers inside the coop and sprinkling some of their food on the ground outside in the run, but after reading a bit, both from you and other threads I manages to find, I'm going to try moving both waterers and the feeder outside (I'm also going to pick up some bigger waterers and feeders this weekend as well, as im still using the smaller ones we started with in the brooder) and tossing some of the food in more areas of the run than I was before.
I also let them out a bit earlier today than i have been, just wanting to get a quick look at them this morning and I don't see any fresh redness so far. I'm hoping letting them have the larger space a little earlier + spreading the resources out helps a bit.
I'm going to look around and see what I can find to build more explorable obstacles or toys for the run as well.

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm hoping it helps!
 
It might be that because stuff changed, they got scared and a couple of bullies are being a rather large problem because they're nervous already.
Maybe try more chicken toys? Hanging cabbage, jungle gym, etc?
Mrs. K has probably the best answer. Sit with them and a squirt gun. Sometimes they just need a reminder to not pick on everyone else.
Thank for the suggestions!🙏
I'm hoping with a little tweaking of the space plus time will fix the issue.

I've also been finding references to products I can use on the injured chicks to discourage further pecking if it really comes down to it.
 

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