Bully chick or pecking order?

[floral_chickadee]

So out of my six chicks I have one (an Olive Egger) that likes to peck at the other chicks eyes and toes, and sometimes beaks. It doesn’t seem to be causing any injuries or anything, and luckily it doesn’t happen too occasionally... but I still find it concerning. The other chicks don’t stay away from her or anything though, but they’re starting to peck her back.

Are they associating a pecking order? Or is this chick a bully?

 

[Smileybans]

Are they all the same age? I know when I have chicks that pick at eyes and toes it’s usually and older chick picking at younger ones. Or an overly aggressive chick. I usually separate them so they can’t touch but and still see each other. I only separate however if the pecking chick in question is too aggressive. To the point that it scares the other chicks or is hurting them.

 

[Pork Pie]

Increasing brooder size, adding feeders and providing distractions (CDs, branches, cardboard boxes, for example) can all assist in reducing the behaviours you describe.

 

[neo71665]

Pecking order is normally just the back or top of head. If one is pecking at the eyes you have an issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[floral_chickadee]

Are they all the same age? I know when I have chicks that pick at eyes and toes it’s usually and older chick picking at younger ones. Or an overly aggressive chick. I usually separate them so they can’t touch but and still see each other. I only separate however if the pecking chick in question is too aggressive. To the point that it scares the other chicks or is hurting them.

They’re apparent all the same age, but I assume maybe a couple days apart at the most. The one who’s doing the pecking is actually one of the smallest, so I don’t think she’d be other than the others.

 

[Smileybans]

I’ve had chicks hatch from the same set that would not stop picking at the others feet. So I took some wire and made a separate cage for the picker. Kinda like time out. She only had to be in there for a couple days before I could let her out and she was nice. My brooder is a 10x10 room too. So they had plenty of room to play. But do try different stimulation things. Like sticks to jump on and dirt to play in. My chicks love that stuff. It might distract them enough that you don’t have to separate.

 

[jonalisa]

So out of my six chicks I have one (an Olive Egger) that likes to peck at the other chicks eyes and toes, and sometimes beaks. It doesn’t seem to be causing any injuries or anything, and luckily it doesn’t happen too occasionally... but I still find it concerning. The other chicks don’t stay away from her or anything though, but they’re starting to peck her back.

Are they associating a pecking order? Or is this chick a bully?

I just went through this last week. I stayed with it and gave her a poke and said NO! every time she did it. It was rare for her to do it after 2 days and the few times she did it after that, they would peck her back.