Bickering! Pecking order troubles?

[Kati]

Hello all. Newbie here, so excuse me if I am a little paranoid about my little ones, but I am worried! Thursday I picked up two one day old easter egger chicks from my local feed store. I almost immediately lost one to a very determined cat (who has since been banished to the garage) and went back to the feed store the next day and got a one day old Moran chick. it has been a few days now, and it seems like my easter egger is beating up on my poor little moran. When I brought him home, the little guy didn't eat anything at all for the first 36 hours and chirped CONSTANTLY. She seemed really weak an I was worried I was going to lose her. Finally, I scrambled an egg for her and she at a lot of it off of my fingers and then slept all day yesterday (in silence!) She is not growing at nearly the same rate ate the easter egger, who already has doubled in size and has wing and tail feathers- while the moran has just barely started showing feathers and hasn't really grown. What my concern is that I noticed my easter egger will chase the little Moran away from the food dishes, and now there are a few little bald spots on the moran chick as well. She still won't touch the starter feed the easter egger is eating, so I am feeding her a little combo that I coarsely chopped in the blender containing 3 parts chick feed, 1 part oatmeal, and one part parakeet food (for color). I also coarsely chopped some greens, garlic, oregano, a scrambled egg, and some mixed veggies in the blender and she seemed to really like these mixes, but the easter egger will still chase her away if she gets the chance. The little one is better today, but I still need to separate them a few times a day so the little one has a chance to eat. Since I started doing this yesterday she is improving quickly, but neither of the birds likes to be alone, so they both cry if I separate them for more than a few minutes. Is there a better solution than this? I hate to have to separate them all the time, it is so much work I wish they would just get along! I have room to house a few more chicks/ chickens, maybe I should add another to change up the pecking order? is it possible I have a roo?? HELP! Thank you!

 

[Judy]

I would probably add another chick or two, to break things up -- and I would definitely add another feeder, set some distance from the first one. If that would crowd your brooder, then they would likely benefit from more space, anyway.