Chicks pecking at toes?

[le_bwah]

I had an early hatcher (out 24 hours before the rest had even pipped) that is picking on the only other hatchling; pulling feathers, peking at toes. I've separated them for now. What else can I do to prevent this behavior and protect the younger chicks?

Edit: these are quail, but I assume chicken advice should apply

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Give them more space, change the lighting. They only need a small area of warm space and lots of cool space.
Most people use red heat lamps. They're better off with a non-light producing heat source like a ceramic heat emitter or heat plate. That way you can give them hemeral lighting with about 8 hours of darkness. A red heat lamp providing 24 hours of light can make them a bit crazy. Also, blue light is more calming to chickens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chicks have a natural inbreed instinct that is called the pecking response or instinct. Because chicks don't have good smellers, fingers, etc, the only way yhat they can learn about their environment is to peck everything laying around. If you will give your biddies an old sheet of news paper a chick can entertain itself for hours if not days by trying to eat the print right off the page.

We have another good reason now to explain to the back yard chicken keeper why staggered hatches are evil. Forgive me for stating the obvious but the fault is not your chickens' but rather the fault lays with you.

 

[le_bwah]

Give them more space, change the lighting. They only need a small area of warm space and lots of cool space.
Most people use red heat lamps. They're better off with a non-light producing heat source like a ceramic heat emitter or heat plate. That way you can give them hemeral lighting with about 8 hours of darkness. A red heat lamp providing 24 hours of light can make them a bit crazy. Also, blue light is more calming to chickens.

Thanks for the lighting tip. I already have an electric hen set up, which I was told would help prevent cannibalism. These are quail chicks (probably should mention, whoops!) so I'm unsure how the brooder will work out for them. I'll post a picture of my set up; if there's something glaringly wrong, please let me know. This is my first time incubating/hatching anything!

 

[le_bwah]

Chicks have a natural inbreed instinct that is called the pecking response or instinct. Because chicks don't have good smellers, fingers, etc, the only way yhat they can learn about their environment is to peck everything laying around. If you will give your biddies an old sheet of news paper a chick can entertain itself for hours if not days by trying to eat the print right off the page.

We have another good reason now to explain to the back yard chicken keeper why staggered hatches are evil. Forgive me for stating the obvious but the fault is not your chickens' but rather the fault lays with you.

I don't see how staggered hatches have much to do with my situation. These are quail, all one species, forming one clutch. One of nine popped out a day early, and the rest are pipping right on time. It's just the early bird is treating the other quails' toes like worms to pluck, and I need to know if there's anything I can do to prevent harm.