Chicks bleeding from pecking

[feather13]

What are the dimensions of your coop and run? What are the other breeds you have? What are you feeding them?

@keesmom : The coop run is 10ft x 4ft and the coop is 4 ft x 4 ft (they are only in there at night). There are also roosting poles the chicks sit on in the run, so there's plenty of room. Sometimes they snuggle together and sometimes they like to be alone. We will eventually integrate them into a huge coop and run and small orchard when they can be introduced to the hens and will give away some since we are only allowed 12 chickens.

The chicks are four weeks old and still quite small. The EEs/Amercaunas are the biggest, but they are sweet and I didn't see them pecking the Polish. The ones that were most aggressive were the Minorca and, oddly enough, the third Polish.

I've been feeding them unmedicated chick starter from our local feed store and small amounts of grit, as well as fresh vegetable and fruit snacks. They get electrolytes in their water. They have several food and water stations and I haven't seen them crowd others out. This is what I've always fed chicks, but maybe there's something else I could use?

Tonight I put hydrogen peroxide on the two Polish's wounds, followed up by some Waxlene ointment. I'm keeping them in a small dog crate in the house at night and in the crate within the coop with the others during the day. Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Nope, your doing great.

 

[Folly's place]

Your coop is big enough for four birds, if they get along well, same for the run. Sixteen birds, not a chance! Keep those Polish chicks safe for now, and reorganize either by reducing your numbers drastically, and/ or building much bigger!!!
Mary

 

[feather13]

Your coop is big enough for four birds, if they get along well, same for the run. Sixteen birds, not a chance! Keep those Polish chicks safe for now, and reorganize either by reducing your numbers drastically, and/ or building much bigger!!!
Mary

Thanks for your reply! Is the coop too small for chicks? They seem to have tons of space. I had already planned on giving half away to friends when they got a bit older (I needed to meet the minimum number for delivery), but they seem to have enough space for the time being. When they are four months old, I will move them from this coop to a much bigger one in order to integrate them with my five year old hens. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

 

[Folly's place]

Have you seen who the worst peckers are, or is it many of them? The Polish do tend to have problems like this, and the RIR and other production reds like to be aggressive.
It sounds like a beautiful group though!
Mary

 

[feather13]

Have you seen who the worst peckers are, or is it many of them? The Polish do tend to have problems like this, and the RIR and other production reds like to be aggressive.
It sounds like a beautiful group though!
Mary

Thanks again for your response! Weirdly, the Polish were pecked most by the other birds that look most like them (a third Polish and a Buff Minorca). I'm going to keep the Polish separated until I receive more Blu Kote in the mail (that stuff is so messy!) I'll try to see if that stops the pecking and, if not, I'll rehome them.

I've always had experiences with RIR that are exceptions to the rule. We have a RIR hen and a chick and both are sweet. The RIR is the boss of our remaining three hens and she's curious and friendly, but never bullies the other two. Other RIR hens we've had in the past have been very inquisitive, but kind to others. The RIR chick doesn't seem to pick on others when I've observed her.

I wonder how the Crevecoeur chicks will do once their head tufts come in. This is a good lesson to me to never get chicks that look radically different than the others!

 

[Folly's place]

I've never had any of the birds with 'top hats' and wonder too how this will work out for you.
Mary

 

[Chickassan]

Your Crevecoeur chicks will do fine as a general rule they have more backbone than Polish that tend to either flee or bow down and take the abuse.
BTW, I love Minorcas but id say a good 70 to 80 percent have been "opinionated" towards any other bird that showed the slightest difference or weakness.
Great strong birds but very ride or die in my experiences with them even when they are young.

 

[feather13]

Your Crevecoeur chicks will do fine as a general rule they have more backbone than Polish that tend to either flee or bow down and take the abuse.
BTW, I love Minorcas but id say a good 70 to 80 percent have been "opinionated" towards any other bird that showed the slightest difference or weakness.
Great strong birds but very ride or die in my experiences with them even when they are young.

Lol good to know about the "ride or die" Minorca! Luckily, I only have one.

The buff Polish is now getting picked on (despite having bare spots covered in some unexpired Blue Kote I found in the shed), even by the otherwise docile Phoenix, so I just put an ad up to rehome all four. Sigh. My daughter really wanted Polish, but I can't stand to see them suffer. The person I spoke to at McMurrays thought that getting four Polish would be fine, but that's not the case for us.

 

[Chickassan]

Sometimes fancy breeds or odd ones do best in just a pack of same but even then one is funnier looking than the other or smells funny and still gets beat up.
You can't win sometimes, you really can't.

Lol good to know about the "ride or die" Minorca! Luckily, I only have one.

The buff Polish is now getting picked on (despite having bare spots covered in some unexpired Blue Kote I found in the shed), even by the otherwise docile Phoenix, so I just put an ad up to rehome all four. Sigh. My daughter really wanted Polish, but I can't stand to see them suffer. The person I spoke to at McMurrays thought that getting four Polish would be fine, but that's not the case for us.