Chickens killing chickens...HELP!!!

[NotTheMomma]

Can you post pictures of them?

I'd keep the month old chicks on the starter, let them have it in front of them all the time so they can eat when they want. If they are let out in the mornings from a coop, I'd give it first thing in the morning, and make sure they had some when I locked them up at night. Sometimes mine clean their feed containers before I let them out in the mornings, and sometimes they hardly touch it. I figure they know when they are hungry and want it.

The 4 month old RIR, I would give them a growth feed, or if the starter is a starter/growth feed like mine is, I would leave them on that.

The hen does need laying pellets.

Can you put a piece of something in the coop to separate the month old chicks from the hen? I think they would only need to be separated at night. Free ranging they have plenty of room to get away from each other if they want. Therefore the chicks could go their own way, and away from the hen.

I have 3 different age groups in my flock, with the oldest being about 9 weeks old, and the youngest being 4 weeks old. The oldest let the younger where they stand in the pecking order, but they don't constantly peck each other, or anything like that.

I will eventually free range as mine get older, but right now they have a 30'x20' run, and a 10'x20' coop.

The reason I wonder about an outside predator though, roosters that young don't typically kill each other. They give each other a peck here and there, might pull out a feather or two, and they thrust out their chest and raise their heads at each other, but they shouldn't be drawing blood, or killing each other when they have plenty of room.

 

[mypicklebird]

flock raiser is fine for the roosters, many people who have free range flocks of laying hens with a rooster or two mixed in feed layer to everyone. If your roosters are separate- you can feed them a flock raiser. If together, they get what everyone else eats. Corn is not appropriate as a majority food for ANY age or gender. It is more important to feed the littel ones starter ration and the hens layer ration that the rooster a low calcium diet IMO. The hens seem to need extra calcium over any beyond the layer ration---anyway, and will eat oyster shell to get this. I never see my roosters touch the stuff, and they get layer ration. So far no gout, kidney issues ect in the roosters- they eat mostly grass, and only eat the layer ration on occasion when I add new food- and call out to their girls- Good food here! Cluck cluck
If you have prized roosters, and keep them separate from the hens- mixing them in when you want fertile eggs- then certainly feed them a diet that is best- which is not layer, and certainly not corn and bread.



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[aeg1001]

there are some pics up on "my page" i am not sure how to put them on here. maybe they are a little older than that bc today the rir and the buff rooster were trying to spuring each other. what do u recomend other than layer for the hen we assumed she wasn't getting enough vit from the cracked corn and bread so that is y we got the layer. my fiance is very against the growth feeder bc he wants it to be all organic. surprisingly the big buff hen doesn't go for the youngest one she goes for the older ones. she has pecked some of the lazy meat chicken back clean of feathers and has blooded a few of there backs, but the ones that have been so bad we have had to kill have all been mangled under there wings. after i saw the roosters fighting today thats what makes me think it may be them.