Chick "attacking" itself

[daydreamer92]

So out of my troubled batch of bantams, I have one Golden Seabright that doesn't seem to get pecking the food yet (yes, paper towels, yes crumbles) and was instead just mercilessly going after the wing feathers of others as well as itself. Just constantly and not the "what's this" but the STAB! GOTTA WORM! strike deal. Enough to bowl itself over when it does it to itself.

After watching it drag the other bantams around, I had enough and swapped it into a brooder with big bustling (same age) EEs who, I thought, would show it where to eat and also were simply unphazed by feather attacks.

The bantam doesn't go after them anymore, but it is constantly going after its own feathers, grabbing itself and knocking itself around the brooder and peeping loudly. It's not trying to preen I dont think, and it's little flight feathers are rumpled. It knows where the waterer is, but still hasn't figured out the "peck the food" thing.

I know chicks peck out of curiosity and what, and soon grow out of it, but is "I attack my wing" unique to this peep or have any of you had it happen? DID it grow out of it? I'm not sure what else I can do to help it find something worth pecking at. I'm wondering if it's fixated on those feathers as potential food and can't quite grasp, despite 24 hours of this, that no, that's not gonna work.

 

[emys]

Well maybe it is "special" after a bump on the head.

I would try taking it out of the brooder, and getting a small amount of chick crumble wet down with warm water. I would place one meal worm in the wet crumble to give him something to aim for. Do this a couple times per day, and he should get the idea to focus on the bowl for food.