Bloody Chicks!! URGENT!! **Updated with pic**

[carolina chicky]

We have 2 hens who have been sitting for 20 days on the same nest. Yesterday We went out to check and found 3 newborn chicks, all healthy and happy. Both moms were still on the other eggs. Today I came home and found one chick in the run, with a bloody head and barely moving. I looked inside the coop and found another chick with the same type of head wound, just not quite as bad. I brought the new chicks inside and put them under a heat lamp but what else can I do? Both the mom's protested when I removed the babies and they got up and ran around. I saw that between them they are still sitting on 13 eggs!! There is another hen and a rooster in with them so I don't know who bloodied the babies.
What can I do for these injuries? Should I take all the babies as they are born or leave them for the moms?
Please help!!

 

[carolina chicky]

I just went out to check again and the two hens are running out in chaos. There is one more baby, who is quite a bit smaller (these are bantams) that got kicked out into the run. It seems the hens are torn between caring for the newborns and sitting on their eggs. Should I move then hens to another place away from the other two chickens or just leave them alone?

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

i'd say move them to another place.

 

[carolina chicky]

The hens or just the chicks? I don't know if all those eggs are gonna hatch...

 

[REINABUGY]

Move Moms And Eggs

 

[joanie_maine]

I always remove chicks from nests as soon as they are hatched and put them in a brooder.

It's the best way to quarantee live chicks.

Hens tend to peck at chicks that are not theirs and brooding hens cannot always protect chicks that have hatched.

 

[carolina chicky]

I think I will move the three newborns and let the hens sit on the rest of the eggs without worrying about the new chicks.

 

[carolina chicky]

Here is a pic of the chicks injury. He is moving around a lot more now but still not acting right.

I cleaned the injury with a Q-tip and some peroxide but I am not sure what else to do or why this happened to 2 of them, exactly the same type of injury. This chick in the picture seems stronger but is acting weird.

 

[bantybev]

If you use hydrogen peroxide on a chick I would dilute with water. It tends to burn tissue. Betadine solution, or a bit of iodine mixed with water (till it is tea colored) works best. Flush the wound. Dry the wound with clean paper towel and apply Neosporin or a triple antibiotic without pain relief with a q-tip.
I would give the little guys some polyvisol (or generic infant vitamins) 1 drop mixed with several drops of water in an eye dropper, dripped onto side of beak (do not force, as they can aspirate it into their lungs) and feed a boiled egg yolk, mashed, for a little extra protein. Make sure they are drinking water and put under a heat lamp around 90 degrees. Let them rest in a quiet room so they get over the trauma. Then provide chick food and water.
I would definately keep the broodies seperate from the rest of the flock until the hatch is over and the chicks are older, with food and water near the nest. Regardless of whether you remove the chicks as they hatch, unless you are going to be right there every second, there is a chance for another chick getting injured. It would be best to remove the broodies either way, away from others until hatch is over. Just my opinion.

 

[carolina chicky]

I am worried that the hens are the ones pecking the chicks because they are on the same nest and sharing the same eggs. They seem very aggrivated with the new chicks...it seems that they are torn between either sitting on the remaining eggs or taking care of the new chicks.