Cannibal chick! What to do!!!!

[carolsmith7878]

Hello,

I need some advice. I ordered 15 chicks from Ideal that arrived last friday. One arrived dead and many were severely dehydrated. I noticed that there had been very little gro gel, a spot less than the size of a dime, and it was completely gone. I had to give fluids by syringe to many of them for several hours until they started to perk up and drink on their own.

When I disposed of the body of the deceased, I noticed that it's eyes had been eaten by the other birds. I didn't think much of this until I started to watch the other chicks for a while. One of the assorted "surprise" chicks (I suspect it is an EE) continuously pecked at the others eyes. Not a curious "what is that?" peck, but a vicious, hungry pecking. It was grabbing and holding on and pulling out feathers. No matter how much food or other interesting stuff I put in, it continued this habit so I pulled it out and put it in a separate cage near the others. I have tried a couple of other times over the weekend to re-introduce it to the others, but it instantly goes for their eyes like a mean little dog.

I even tried putting it in with my 3 week old chicks, and it went after their eyeballs with such ferociousness that even they avoided it and ran away, despite being 3 times bigger.

It is vey people friendly, as we have been its only contact, but cannot be with the other chicks.

Is this something it will grow out of?

What is the youngest you can apply pinless peepers?

Is beak trimming the only hope for this little thing?

Is their any hope for this chick?

 

[larsonll]

Maybe you can isolate and reintroduce? Try to put in a stuffed animal with hard eyes. Maybe trying enough to peck with no results will help.

Never had your situation but wanted to try and help out.

 

[carolsmith7878]

I'll try that.

Thanks!

 

[NovaAman]

Thats probably how it survived, and now thinks its good... Poor guy. I'd be so p*&&$d about the conditions they arrived in. I think Ideal needs a good upbraiding and maybe a bad review posted about it. Youre not the first I've read who has issues with shipping conditions...

Anyway, I think maybe the hard eyes might work too. Worth a try. If not, You might have to raise it by itself. That'd suck, since they are social creatures...

 

[bantyshanty]

That's a strange situation... Just my two cents, having never had this happen, but once a chicken picks up a habit under a high-stress situation, the chicken keeps its habit & it's hard to change it. Like roosting a certain place d/t a thunderstorm, or trying daily to eat my right toes, which one day had spilled peanut butter on the shoe (an EE).

Your fine young cannibal was nearly dead himself, and those juicy, delectable eyeballs were what saved him from death a short while ago, so they're probably just like candy to him now. If he does change his behavior, it will probably be a long time coming. He may not. I had a cat who didn't get fed for a weekend as a kitten because the sitter didn't show up, and she thought peace lily leaves were better than cat food, her entire life, because orf her near starvation.
First try the stuffed animal, but he may not be a keeper, in the long run. Try to give those poor little chicks as much extra nutrition as you can in the next couple weeks, as well.

Way to go Ideal

 

[larsonll]

Quote:
I think you nailed it.

 

[carolsmith7878]

They have vitamin water and plenty of high protein chick food. All of the others are doing very well now, thankfully!

One also had a splayed leg. Thanks to the advice I got on BYC, I used the bandaid splint technique and it worked like a charm. That chick is all o.k. now also.

I'm just worried that this chick will not get over this bad habit. My son is really attached to it, but because it has now apparently learned that eyeballs are food out of necessity, I'm not sure it can be retrained.

I will keep everyone updated on whether the stuffed animal works. I'm headed to go put one in there right now.

 

[larsonll]

Keep us posted!

 

[SteveBaz]

if not social why not kill the problem now you still have 13 chicks. The supplier Ideal might replace the chicks? Before getting attached or having issues get rid of the bird now.

Steve

 

[carolsmith7878]

BTW, we named it Hannibal the cannibal. Hopefully, later we can change it to just "Hanna" (it's supposed to be a pullet).