Baby chick pecking at eyes!

[thebirdgirl]

Hi everyone,
So I received my baby chicks this morning from Mc Murray and all look good and healthy (and sooooo cute!). These are my first chicks although I did have chickens in the past. My question is there is one baby who really likes the others' eyes- she pecks them and grabs the eyelids until the other ones cry and run away. She doesn't seem to be hurting any of them- no one has swollen or injured eyelids. Will she outgrow this- they're all about two-three days old. Should I separate her for a while and see if that helps? I don't want anyone getting hurt or blinded by this little freshie!

 

[peeboo]

it's hard tosay, the chick may just be stressed from the trip. i know my chicks would occasionally peck at one another but once they settled in it stopped for the most part. no injuries or anything like that. i dont know if i would seperate it because i wouldn't want to cause anymore stress. tough call, but if it gets violent then i would sep. it from the others because that behavior can become contagious but if no one's hurt, i wouldn't. just keep an eye on 'em.

 

[Red]

We had a chick who had a really dark beak, and all the others would gang up on this one chick and peck his beak! When they're young chicks seem to like exploring, and this includes a lot of pecking - anything that is 'interesting' will be pecked, for ours it was toes, beaks, eyes, fingernails, freckles and jewellery.

We added mirrors and stuffed toys into the brooder, to keep them entertained and give them other things to peck at and do. Something else that worked was the bottom off an egg box which we filled with marbles, and then scattered chick crumbs in between the marbles. This kept them busy for hours trying to peck all the food out

Good luck with your chicks!

 

[angelmarie]

I think shes just being a curious chick, my baby silkie loves to peck at my eyelids fingers, w.e. she has around her its probably just a phase and she should grow out of it, if it gets worse just seclude, her and find something she likes to peck at, and start putting some no-peck lotion on the item, that should get her to stop.

 

[thebirdgirl]

I did have to separate her, she non-stop picks at everyone's eyelids. Some were getting swollen and reddened. I am going to try the marbles and mirrors. As for the no-pick lotion, is that something like bitter apple? Do you know where I could get it?
Emily