Beat up chicks

[gabrielle1976]

well I had started a thread in the chick part but now that the little chick is not acting well I thought it should be posted here.
Chick got pecked around the face and beak and is bloody. after talking to some people seperated chick from bully.
chick now sleeps all the time not eating or drinking just sleeping. Has been about 2 hours scinceI saw him try to eat anything got him to take two drinks of water. How do you make them eat and drink when they dont want to?
Now that blasted bully chick has pecked a small sore spot on the other chick too. the bully's name is now Atilla the hun.
Beating head on wall and wishing I had not thought it would be fun to have chicks.

 

[chookchick]

I am so sorry the chicks are giving you a hard time!

What kind of chickens are they? Sounds like the bully needs to have his own little detention cell, maybe the others would be okay together. Also--do you have a white or red brooder light? I have heard that the red can keep them much calmer. Some have also had good luck feeding them scrambled or raw egg yolk for nourishment.

 

[gabrielle1976]

They are two barred rock? and a rhoad island red? the sickly one is a barred and so is the bully.
Ill make them some egg
I have a clear light I will go down to the feed store tammrow and get a red one if you think that will help.
Could there be something wrong with Atilla the other chicks till everything got crazy would eat drink and sleep and wander around and peck at things here or there but atilla has always been hether and thether and pecking anything it can reatch almost obsesivly?

 

[Lollipop]

First thing Gab is to stop that one from pecking. Hopefully your wife, mother, sister or girlfriend has some Noxema cold cream or a cheap imitation thereof. Smear a little on the abused chick to stop the pecking. The Noxema tastes bad. The bully may just move to another area, but it seems to prefer the head. Try to not get it in the eyes.

The weak chick needs some water with sugar in it and maybe some blue or green food color. The color makes it attractive and the sugar will give it energy. Dip it`s beak in the water a few times and make sure it gets some. After it drinks, then you can tend to the blood. Put some antibiotic on the wounds. Neosporin will work fine, or any other kind you have at home. Don`t get it in the eyes. Make sure you keep the water in the chick until it drinks and eats on it`s own. May not work, but it`s worth a try.

Don`t feel bad about this experience. This is just a natural occurence.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I live by my self with only my 3 year old son and nether my sister or my mother use cold cream even if they would be willing to come bring me some which unfortanly they woudnt. Ill just keep the healthy chick and Atilla the hun serperated so I dont get a second whimpy chick.
The sick one is defently sick and not just tired he dosnt open his eyes any more barely stuggles when i pick him up and when i tried to dip his beak in water started gasping so i think i just amost drowned the poor thing though the water was just barely more then covering the bottom of the dish i didnt know how much suger to use so i dont know if i used enough.
he is clicking when he breaths now. Im gonna start bawling like a baby my self here soon .

 

[gabrielle1976]

Gahhhhh
Atilla is just peeping and peeping now that he is by him self , I put a little stuffy in there but all he does is stand ontop of his food dish and peep and peep. Is there anything i can do to calm him down?

 

[SussexInSeattle]

I got a really mean Buff Orp chick with a batch that I got last fall and I ended up taking the toenail cutters to it's upper beak tip, kind of like they do at the commercial hatcheries but not near as deep a cut. This made her beak too sore to go pecking everyones heads off but I warn you there will be a little blood. If there is no blood then you did not trim far enough. I just took the tip but it nipped the bullying. She is still a fat hog about food and stuff and feels she is queen of the flock, just under the oldest 3 but a real creep to all the other 5 in her batch.

So anyway, you can trim the beak and put her back in with the rest right away. Even if she does not stop the pecking, she can no longer bloody the other girls.

EDIT: just find your mark, hold each side of her head with a pinch of the fingers and nip it fast with the clippers, the longer you think it over or the slower the cut, the more pain frfom pressure you can cause. Grab, pinch, locate, snip.

 

[gabrielle1976]

thank you I know thats probly really good advice but I really dont think i can do that . I dont even swat flies or squish spiders .
I use to be a dog groomer and if i ever cut a nail to short and it bled id feel bad for a long time . Im afraid I would probly make a pretty bad farmer ... which ironicly has been a life long dream of mine to have a farm ..

I decided to Name the dying chick Peter .. I just cant let him die with out a name .. I am off to try to get some liquid in him again.

 

[SussexInSeattle]

Very ironic, I am a lifer groomer and I used to work with a bather just like that except she would cry every time she cut nails, even if they didn't bleed I think. I tried to explain to her that it would be so much worse if the dog snagged a bear claw in the carpet and ripped the nail off at the paw pad because that would REALLY hurt the animal. It's almost like a parallel to this story because if a chick like this is not stopped, then there will be much more massive pain, only not to that chick but to the other chicks it decides to massacre.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Peter was dead when I went in to check on him.
I cant bealve it .. He got pecked in the face early this after noon seperated early this evening or something and died tonight. could there have been something else going on there it seems so fast.. I might have to buck up and do what you sugest Atilla has the other one going now they are both standing on there sepective sides and peeping and peeping and peeping .. I put the other one in with atilla just for a min to see and of course atilla went strait for his face... so thre both seperated again and peeping .