Baby chicken plucker

[AGmom]

I have a white chick I'm not sure how old we purchased her on memorial day but the person working had 0 chicken knowledge I was told she was a RIW but she has a single comb she is filled out with feathers she is in the flock with a dozen other chicks of various breeds its summer we live in Florida and they go out to their chick play yard which is about 8 sqft everyday we keep them in big bins at night the coop is going up this weekend as there all feathered out and its plenty warm we have them on 18% chick starter and mealworms (for extra protein) we give them scratch their play yard is full of "toys" wood blocks a wicker lean too shiny toys food and water. But this particular chick plucks everyones feathers and stirs up trouble everyone will be resting "Glimmer" will begin racing around stepping on everyone fluttering its wings chasing after everyone yanking tail feathers we used pick no more on the backs of all her victims so she pecked one got a taste and immediately began going after the un damaged chicks so we seperated her we kept her in her own bin a cat carrier but put her where she could see the others we then seperated a 4x4 area next to the chick play yard we tried to put her in with the flock for a bit but she immediately began chasing other chicks and trying to pull out everyones tail feathers she's the only one who's a problem she at one point had two other chicks joining in but once we pulled her out everyone else stopped. What is going on? Is she just mental?

 

[junebuggena]

It sounds like a combination of a dominant chick and overcrowding. 8 sq ft is pretty small for a 'play yard'. How old are your chicks. They need plenty of room to avoid the aggressor. Removing her everytime she starts chasing the others isn't going to solve anything. You need to let them work out their pecking order, and they need lots of room in order to do that.

 

[AGmom]

the chicks are only a couple weeks old maybe 3 weeks to a month just old enough to leave the brooder and not require a heat lamp anymore she isn't all that big. The play yard isn't small its I guess 4ft by 8ft they seem to have plenty of room and tend to all stay together on one half of it barely using the rest of the space except "Glimmer" who races around chasing everyone.

 

[junebuggena]

How many chicks are you putting in it?

 

[AGmom]

They will be free range when they get a bit bigger right now their too young too come home for safety and will fit through the fence so I can't let them loose the chicken run is under construction it will be bigger then the "playpen"

 

[AGmom]

These are NOT my actual chicks but 6 are about this size the other 6 are significantly smaller (bantams)

 

[junebuggena]

In a 4x8 foot play yard, I would put no more than 8 1 month old chicks in. Like I said before, you need to let them sort out their pecking order. Unless one of them is actually injured to the point of drawing blood, you shouldn't intervene.

 

[AGmom]

I wasn't sure it was pecking order thing the others tussel but Glimmer tore out the tail feathers of the others to the point of bloody butts then the others started picking at the bloody spots in one day half my chicks looked ragged?

 

[AGmom]

Its all she does run around crazy ripping out feathers

 

[junebuggena]

What kind of space do they live in when not in the play yard? Do you keep them in several small groups, or do they all spend 24 hours a day together?