Aggressive Chick @ 5 days old

[jburd]

Howdy! This is my first thread at BYC

!

A few years ago I worked on a farm and was introduced to chickens. I raised a brood of 100 Australorp pullets successfully to production-age and cared for about 200 adult laying hens of several breeds. After leaving the farm I deeply missed my girls and I decided to get 12 little pullets for a backyard flock.

4 days ago I received my new girlies!

I got 2 chicks each of 6 different breeds and they all seemed to be getting on great! They have plenty of space in their brooder and I've given them 2 feeders and waterers to keep them in stock while I'm at work.

Unfortunately, one of the Rhode Island Reds is the most aggressive chick I have ever seen at her age! She is small compared to the others, but she continually wanders around and pecks at the other chicks eyes and vents. Sometimes, she will not let the other chicks sleep! I thought at first that it was just curiosity and I named her Jeanette after my feisty great aunt

. But her aggression is getting worse every day and she is starting to injure the others.

Today I woke up to chick screams and found one of the Barred Rock chicks bleeding from her vent. Jeanette was chasing her around the brooder while the other chicks darted out of their way. I cleaned up the BR with some peroxide and found quite a large tear in the top of the vent. The shape of the wound made it clear to me that it was made by being pecked by another chick. I can only assume who was the culprit.

I have separated the injured BR so she does not get harassed anymore, but the aggressive RIR remains in the brooder with the lot of them. I'm not sure what to do with her . . . she's so young and already so mean! When I raised chickens before I didn't monitor for aggression in the 100 chicks until they were weeks old . . . even then, treatment for an extremely aggressive pullet would probably have been to cull her for practical reasons

(thank goodness we didn't have any). Now it's different . . . they are my pets . . . my babies

! I don't want to give up on Jeanette or any of them. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks very much!

 

[my sunwolf]

I have to jump in on this, though take my advice with a grain of salt since I'm so new and having a similar problem. We had 2 day old Wyandottes and 7 day old Easter Eggers together in the brooder. About a week in, the Wyandottes started pecking the EE's bloody, picking at eyes, flesh around the beaks, tail feathers. The EE's would only start the pecking their fellows as soon as they saw the blood the Wyandottes had brought out. I had to separate out 5 injured chicks for a day, but the next morning when they were healed I had new ones to separate out, since each day the Wyandottes chose new victims. Luckily the EE's feathered out very quickly and could go outside so that the separation game could end, but the Wyandottes have now turned to each other and I have no idea why! All I could think was that, since the other chicks were bigger, the younger ones didn't get to play with the mounds of grass and scraps because they kept getting pushed out of the way. Possibly they got bored, then started the pecking, and of course didn't stop. Is the little Rhode Island Red getting pushed out of the way of all the fun by bigger chicks? Is there anyone who can stand up to her? If so, maybe separate the RIR out with another chick who will fight back and not let themselves get pecked bloody. That's all I can think to do

 

[jburd]

Thanks mysunwolf!!

The two RIRs get along really well, although Jeanette is the most aggressive and Emma (the other RIR) is the most timid. It's like they got to know each other in the box during shipping or something . . . it's pretty cute

. I just added a Red Reflector lamp instead of my regular infared to try to make the color red less interesting to peck at, but who know how well that will work. The injured BR looked so depressed when she was separated that I ended up cleaning her up so there's no trace of blood left and putting her back in with the others. If Jeanette cannot leave her alone I will separate her. I was worried about separating her because she's so young . . . but if she refuses to quit I will remove her.

I read that some people have had success with older chicks by waiting until they peck someone aggressively and then grabbing quickly them and staring them in the eye . . . just to startle them. I tried that just now with Jeanette when she went for the BR again and it seemed to work . . . at least temporarily

. I'd rather not keep doing that long term because i don't want her to be afraid of me.

Do you think I should try treats or some other distractions before separating them, or would that just be a temporary fix?

 

[leadwolf1]

I would try giving them some grit and oatmeal to scratch and peck around for...something to keep the little devil occupied...also, you can try giving them a baby cake. They are made by farmer's helper and you hang it in the brooder for them to peck at. This has helped out many times for me. Also, instead of making the chick afraid of you, when she is aggressive, just take her out and hold her for 5 - 10 minutes. This will work in two ways. It will remove her from pecking and it will make her more tame and docile around you The 'time out' resets the pecking order in the box and helps to stop this problem. It worked really, really well for me! Good luck with your monster baby I bet she ends up growing up to be your sweetest hen!

 

[jburd]

Thanks leadwolf!

Jeanette started pecking at the BR's vent soon after my last reply, but I felt too bad to grab her like I did before. Instead, I held her until she fell asleep in my lap.

Soooo cute!!! Then I put her back in with the others and the little devil went right back to work pecking at the BR!!!

I have the newly nicknamed "devil-child" separated now and she is crying non-stop . . . I feel terrible.

I put the most feisty Ameraucana chick in there with her, but she's still crying.

I went to TSC to look for treats, but the baby cakes say that they are for chicks 2 weeks & older. They were all out of chick grit too!! I bought UltraKibble for Chicks instead, but I will definitely try the oatmeal too. Can I give them some dirt from the pen I made for them outside (no fertilizer) until I can get some grit? What about something really enticing like brightly colored fruit or wiggling mealworms . . . can wee tiny baby chicks eat those and stay preoccupied with them?

 

[leadwolf1]

You really need to add grit if you start giving wiggly things actually anything besides their starter feed. I have used the baby cakes starting at 1 week. I just leave them in for a little while. Most times, they don't even recognize they are food for several days. Nobody ever had a problem and they love to peck at them. I had a frizzle cochin that was a pain and it turned out to be a roo and he is still a pain. I picked him up and held him more than any other chick. If I put him back and he started again, I pulled him right back out. Keep persevering! You will finally succeed with the devil child!

 

[jburd]

I am a big fan of "Corporal Cuddling" (4:28-5:24) and not just for cats.

Thanks for the encouragement! I will get some chick grit and some treats and keep at it!