Are White Rock chicks prone to being pecked at?

[PineShavings]

I have about 100 White Rock chicks that are two weeks old and about 20 of them have bloody "tail areas" from being pecked on. I've now moved the bloody ones to a seperate area, but when they were being pecked at they had been combined with a combination of Buffs, Rhode Island reds, and black chicks. Could it be that they had been combined with these other breed of chicks b/c none of the other breeds have bloody tails on them. And yes, I give them unlimited amount of food and water.

 

[HEChicken]

Pecking is most often due to crowded conditions. The first thing I would do is to give them the maximum possible space, and that will likely reduce/eliminate the problem.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Maximize space. Cannot not be too big. Crowding and boredom are major causes of picking.

Only have part of the space under the heat lamp, allowing for a large, cooler area to romp.

Red bulbs mask a lot. White bulbs "Show" too much.

Finally, animal meat protein in the chick starter formula satiates the cravings for animal protein. If it isn't in the formula you're feeding, ie, you're feeding a "vegetarian" product, you may have to supplement with scrambled eggs, beef/pork juices from crock pot or other sources.

 

[machuni]

The only reason they may be pecked more is because blood shows up more on white, and once chick(en)s see blood, they're like sharks. Using a red light helps with this. And like what everyone else has said, up their protein. Dry cat food is a good source and actually has more protein than chick starter, but not all the necessary vitamins and minerals, so make sure to make a mix.

 

[PineShavings]

Thanks for the responses, right now I give them the Purina medicated feed which comes in the red bag with the baby chick on the front. Will give the red bulbs a shot since I need to go into town to get some more bags of feed anyways. The idea with the beef broth sounds interesting, might give that a shot. As for space I usually " make it bigger" every couple days, but I'll probably need to double it now since they grow so fast.

 

[donrae]

Make it as big as you can now. How much space do you have for 100 chicks?

 

[Bullitt]

I have about 100 White Rock chicks that are two weeks old and about 20 of them have bloody "tail areas" from being pecked on. I've now moved the bloody ones to a seperate area, but when they were being pecked at they had been combined with a combination of Buffs, Rhode Island reds, and black chicks. Could it be that they had been combined with these other breed of chicks b/c none of the other breeds have bloody tails on them. And yes, I give them unlimited amount of food and water.

Are the other chicks the same age as the White Plymouth Rocks?