Chicks are picking feathers off baby's head

[kathie grey]

Hello -

I have a group of 2 week old chicks. The group has started picking on my beautiful Polish chick. He had a gorgeous poof on his head but they are picking him raw. What can I do to stop this? What can I put on it to help it heal? Will coconut oil make it worse for him?Anything white to cover his pink skin?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may want to separate him in the brooder, put in a wire barrier you they all can still see one another.
If you want to try to hide the pink you can use something like Bluekote.
I have not tried it but you may want to look into a Pick No More product and see if it help to prevent the pecking (supposed to taste bad?).
Just my thoughts

 

[Cyan929]

Oh man, I am in the same boat. I have 6, 5 week old chicks.
Anyway, they do that to my Polish chick too. I used Blu kote and yet they still pecked her. I had to completely remover her because one of them bloodied her face.
I have been allowing her to be with them when I can watch and she can see them and they can see her in the brooder.
The bullying is way better, but they still nip her from time to time. She also doesn't stand up for herself, which doesn't help.
Anyway, sorry for the long post.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You should never get a single crested bird, it will always be pecked at, there should be at least 4-5 or more in a flock. Anything different will be a target. Your best bet is too add more or remove the one. Polish often don't work well in a mixed flock.

 

[Cyan929]

Well, she may become our house chicken then. She was a bonus chicken from McMurray,the rest are buff orpington, barred rock, or Wyandotte.

 

[azygous]

Polish are notorious targets, and a single one is hopeless. Any solitary chicken with a pronounced difference is going to be a target unless you can get more of them to diffuse the differences.

You might try disciplining the aggressive chick or chicks when they attack. It involves poking the bad chick on the back when it misbehaves, a lot like an adult chicken will when a chick gets out of line.

I wrote about how to do this and the link is below under "Articles by azygous"