8 week old chick getting picked on

[branston]

I have 17 8 week old chicks segregated from my main flock. About a week ago, I noticed that every now and then, one would be running around with a feather in it's beak, peeping like when they find something good to eat. It didn't concern me at the time, infact, we thought it was funny, up until 3 days ago. I sat and watched the chicks for a while after letting them out into the run and saw that there were a few pulling the tail feathers out of one particular chick. When I picked up the chick there was quite a bit of blood where they had pulled out the feathers. I brought the chick in. bathed it, sprayed Blu-Kote and kept the chick segregated in a crate in the coop. Today, I brought the chick in and things are healing nicely. I see the new tail feathers growing. I sprayed thoroughly with Blu-Kote again, threw in some speghetti into the run as a distraction and added the chick back to the flock. It started all over again! I watched one chick pull a new feather sprout out and eat it, despite the Blu-Kote and the rest of the chicks starting chasing this little chick down. The chick is back in the crate where he/she is now safe again. Am I ever going to be able to put this chick back with the flock? Will I have to wait until the feathers grow completely back? I suspect this chick is a rooster but I'm not 100% sure. If there is anyone in the Chesapeake, VA area that can offer this little guy a good home, that would be great too!

 

[chicmom]

Poor thing. I hate to hear that.....

 

[SareBear0728]

Hi~we had a similar problem with one of our cochin babies. I seperated them and only kept her with one other calm chick in a dog crate. They were "with" the other chicks, but not able to get picked on because they were safe. Once she got better, it wasn't hard integrating them since they weren't really seperated except by the wire crate.

Good luck!
Sarah

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

SareBear has a good point. You can put one or two nice calm chicks in with the other one so that when you reintegrate there is not just one to pick on. It makes a huge difference.

I prefer no pick lotion.

You can buy it at my feed store- rooster booster pick no more lotion (also sold on internet). It looks like molasses and tastes bad to them. Also black salve.

There are always pinless peepers as a last resort - may be just for adult birds though.

 

[branston]

thanks guys!