Hi, first time chick mom here. We brought home 6 one day old chicks 3 days ago: 2 Americana EE - River and Torchic; 2 Dominique - Holly and Onyx; 2 Sapphire Splash - Opal and Luna. We are having a problem with River pulling on the toes of Luna, Holly and Onyx until they bleed. They are in an extra large dog crate with cardboard lining the lower half. The heat lamp is set up on one end of the crate so the chicks are free to go in and out of the heat. We have one waterer filled with plain water and one with Sav-a-chick electrolytes. Food is Manna Pro Non-Medicated Chick Starter . Things we have tried: 1. dividing the crate with a partial screen(unfortunately we don't have hardware cloth and stores are closed) and separating River. The other 5 were fine together, but River broke out and pulled more toes. 2. reinforcing the screen with duct tape and separating Luna, Holly and Onyx together on one side. That worked great until the heat lamp softened the duct tape and it started to come off. Currently, we have the 3 injured chicks together in a separate tub with a second heat lamp so their toes can heal. River is in the crate with Torchic and Opal and is getting along with them. Does anyone have advice on how we can re-introduce all 6 chicks together? Would it help to divide the crate with hardware cloth so they can see each other while protecting the healing toes? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
