Chicks Pecking Each Other to Death

[ShortAnda]

I've never raised EE's but I have had Ameracaunas get ruff with polishes and pick on them though. I think the polishes are just to docile to be around alot of other types of birds. Breeds banned from my place are Light Brown Leghorns and Blue Andulusions. Sometimes you just have a bad bird. You might consider giving your little ones some alternative food sources. I think some picking can be pacified when birds are able to scratch and find bugs and other goodies to keep them busy. Maybe try hard boiled eggs very finely diced and spread thoughout the brooder. Another option would maybe be to order bugs online and hide them in the bedding. Also consider finely chopped greens. It's good for their digestion to have some rougher tougher foods. As they develop they will have stronger systems. But, as others have said: Once they taste blood that's all they want. Trust me... I've gone through it.

 

[Lacy Blues]

ShortAnda, I'm sorry for your experiences with leghorns and andalusians. I've had both and though I won't say I've never had trouble with them, I WILL say that that year was the exception, not the rule. I know it was due to overcrowding. I had too many in the box and had taken ill and by the time I was back on my feet, I had a problem!

My andalusians are the very best birds ever, in my opinion. I know they are an aggressive breed, therefore, I keep all other breeds away from them. Everything is running smoothly.

 

[ShortAnda]

Lacy Blues,
Thank you for your comments on my breed issues. I do have to say that if I allowed one of the two breeds back it would likely be the Andalusians. They are lovely birds and some of my issues were likley due to boredom and being cooped. What I like about them is there athleticism which I think would help them thrive better than many others when free rangeing it out here. When I had them before we didn't have the farm we live on now. But as far as Leghorns go... I don't think I could give them another shot. I ordered 3 hen and 2 roo chicks a few years ago with a batch of Ameracauna and Broiler chicks. About 27 birds total. They started killing before they had lost all their baby fuzz. I tried seperating them for periods and reintroducing them - giving them space and interesting food and things to do to know avail. I didn't have space at that time to permanantly seperate young birds. They killed all of my Ameracaunas in the batch and several broilers. They picked at the other birds bums until intestines were strung out. It was horrible. I got so fed up that I put food and water outside the coop for them and booted them out to protect the others.

 

[jeanie1969]

The same thing is happening to my baby chickens what to do?

 

[MistyA]

We are new to chicks, we just got our first 6 ;0) and our coop. We started out with 3 different types of chicks we got from Tractor Supply. Right after setting up their brooder, we noticed two of the chicks were more aggressive than the other four. These two were the same breed.

By the next day they were pecking hard at the other chicks faces and bottoms. On one they drew blood from its bottom and when we saw this we immediately separated them from the others. We went back to tractor supply and they gave us two new chicks but refused to take the chicks back because they can not take the risk of infecting their other chicks. So we are giving them to some friends of our that have lots of chickens and they are going to try to work with them.

We also, got smaller food and water dishes to allow more space for them to run around. We got some wound care for the injured one and some "No More Peck" so the other chicks wont smell the blood and peck at it. We also got a pecking post so they have something else to peck at. So far all the other chicks are fine and we are just getting rid other the aggressive ones.

 

[karakakes]

I have the same issue. I have 7 easter eggers and 2 white leghorns all about a week old. Today I got 3 buff orpingtons and the one just walks around and pecks the others. They appear to be a little bit older given longer wing feathers and some tail feathers as well. Their brooder is a crib with legs cut off and wrapped with chicken wire. I have two feeders and two water jugs. Should I seperate the 3 orpingtons?

 

[Bissontk]

I have 4 leghorn chicks (I think, they were a school project, hatched in our home 2 weeks ago and brooding ). My guess is 3 roosters, 1 hen. They weren't even a week old and the oldest roo attacked the last roo. It took place shortly after refilling food and water, so I suspect the fight started over eating rights. I removed the injured chick and confined the bully, so I had 3 boxes going at once. The 2 isolated were shrieking and trying to escape, so after a day using Vetericyn on the injured chick (feathers pulled out at the vent) I tried reintroducing them with the others. No dice. So I now have the injured chick in with the docile hen and the bully in with the other rooster and everybody is much happier, quiet, and no pecking. My question: howl long to I need to maintain 2 brooder bins? Can I ever put the 2 roosters back together again? If I have to re-home one, do keep the bully or the smallest one? Do I clip the bully's beak? Some other threads suggest applying Vick's to the vent area of the injured chick (once fully healed) to deter pecking, but I am looking for best option.

Our movable coop is under construction. It will have a run 12 (L) x 5(W) x 4 (H) covered in hardware cloth and an attached coop 4x5x6 (approx). I will be adding 4-5 more same age/same breed from another school family when the coop is ready. (About 3 weeks) Help?

 

[Janet Pesaturo]

I don't think the kind of extremely persistent, aggressive pecking described by the OP is breed dependent. Chickens are individuals; there is a lot of individual variation within a breed. I once had a Wyandotte chick who behaved like this, but all other wyandottes I've had were not aggressive.

The points about insufficient space and lack of stimulation are excellent, but on occasion you get a chick that is an unusually aggressive picker, regardless of living situation. I culled the one I had like that, and agree with OP's decision to do so in this case.

 

[karakakes]

I actually kept them seperated for about a day and a half, then tried again. My littlest chicks started to "stand up" for themselves and if had no issues since. Ive got 12 of a mix of white leghorns, buffs, and easter eggers and they all seem to be happy now and get along quite well. I also have 19 barred rocks that all seem to love each other as well. Ive not yet lost any chicks and all seem to be very content. Those two groups however are in different areas due to their age difference. happy chickens

 

[8machines]

I have a broody JG so we bought a chick one week ago. They were doing fine except the Mom got out of the coop, the chick followed and the chick was pecked by the other hens while the Mom was dust bathing. Now I am worried about the Mother pecking the chick so have them seperated. This poor little chick must be in pain. She is not eating or drinking. The mother is very upset to be seperated but will she peck the chick if I put her with it?