Chick feather picking and blood drinking?

[OzarkChooks]

I read through the topic of week about feather picking but I still have a couple questions.

I have 10 week old chicks. A speckled Sussex and an exchequer leghorn are picking at one of my buff brahmas and they have almost removed all her tail feathers. They are breaking off the feathers and then they follow her around drinking the blood that is coming out!!! I have never seen this before in my other chickens.

They spend almost all their time outside in a large fenced in area with lots of trees, spots for dust baths, lots of bugs etc. They roost in the trees, forage and seem to be happy. Not bored or over crowded. So my question is why on earth have these two chicks started doing this to my poor brahma? How do I make them stop it?

 

[nuthatched]

Have you tried a saddle or blue cote?

 

[OzarkChooks]

Have you tried a saddle or blue cote?

No. I will look into it. Would they fit a 10 week old chick?

 

[nuthatched]

No. I will look into it. Would they fit a 10 week old chick?

You might have to make one, I forgot it was such a small chick.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would try Blu Kote (antiseptic,the color is supposed to help hide the presence of blood) or Pick-No-More (tastes bad to chickens) on and around the damaged area. For me, when I had a picking issue on a sickly bird, Blu Kote did next to nothing and Pick-No-More worked, but had to be re-applied regularly.