baby is plucking itself

[Trout]

Hi all. I think this might be my first post here!

I've had chickens in the past, but never babies, so this is new to me. We just got a dozen chicks last Friday - 6 Cornish X, 3 Barred Rocks and 3 Ameraucanas and they all seem pretty healthy. They are up and running about in the brooder and all are pretty strong eaters.

The problem is that one of the Cornish X is picking at himself. He's pulled out his feathers on his shoulder right above his wing and left himself with a pretty good bald spot. He hasn't broken the skin. My wife and I have watched them pretty carefully and we haven't seen the others pecking at him, so we're pretty sure it's just him.

If it helps, we have a red heat lamp going and we're feeding a poultry starter mix recommended by the feed store. Plenty of food and fresh water. The chicks seem to be pretty spread out through the brooder, so I think we have the temp right. They aren't bunched up away from the light or huddled under it or anything, and like I said, all of them are pretty active, including the picky one.

What do I do about this?

Edit: It just occurred to me that someone might have some advice on introducing the chicks to our dogs. We have 2 german shorthaired pointers. We're scared to death about the dogs killing the chickens. They are pretty good dogs, but they are tough to train, and they are more than willing to totally ignore us, especially when they get excited about something. We've done all the obedience schools and the like. We showed them the chicks the other night to see how they would react and they were actually shivering they were so excited, and if my wife hadn't had them by the collars, they would have been in the brooder with the chicks.

This could go poorly.

 

[ChanceRider]

What a coincidence! We just received 40 Cornish X chicks on Friday. They were hatched on the previous Wednesday. One of the chicks was plucking itself in the same place and manner you described. I saw the chick pulling at it's feathers and screaming while it tugged. I checked it over and found nothing that I could see or feel. It's bare on it's shoulder/wing area. It eventuay stopped before it drew blood and seems now to have stopped picking at itself.

Hope your chickie stops as well. I'll follow your thread to see if anyone has words of wisdom for us!

 

[Trout]

Sorry to reply to my own post - I won't do it again. I was hoping maybe I could get some info before this post got bumped off the page and before I go home for the evening. I tried searching the site here for an answer, but my google-fu might be weak today.

I'd like to get the little guy sorted out as soon as possible. I'd like to sort the dogs out, too, lol. I love them, but they drive me bonkers sometimes, and if they went after the chickens, I might have to throttle one of them.

Edit: Chancerider - you were responding at the same time I was. Funny how that works.

Glad your chick stopped pulling his fuzz out. Maybe mine will do the same. My wife is keeping an eye on things, but she's headed out to her job, so they are on their own until I get home.

 

[bigstack]

Dogs no matter how well trained are natural predators. Some are better than others but if its small and squeeks or peeps and runns away its a toy or food! as for the picking I wish I knew. I'm still new myself.

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sorry. I can't help you on this one. Sometimes the Cornish crosses grow so fast the feathers cannot come in fast enough so they are partially bald, so don't be surprised if you see that in the future. But I've never had a chick pick himself bald.

 

[Trout]

That's kind of what I was afraid of, Bigstack. It's worse that these are bird dogs, so their instinct is to go after birds. I'd be fine if they just pointed at the chickens all day, or even if they flushed one out every once in a while. I just don't want them to actually go kill one. I'd like to eventually let the birds run free in the yard. It's a pretty large yard, fully fenced and we have very few predators around (except the danged dogs, of course). It makes it worse that these particular two dogs are not that amenable to training. One especially takes the attitude that she will behave right up to the moment we turn our backs and then do whatever the heck she wants, regardless of the consequences. They aren't really "pleasers" like a lot of dogs are.

Maybe I could get some of those shock collars and somehow put sensors on the chickens so whenever the dogs get within 7 feet of a chicken, they get electrocuted.

Maybe not. Kind of funny to think about, though. The chickens would probably learn to chase the poor terrified dogs around.