chicks pecking one badly

[wells06]

The chicks are 17 days old and we have a clear lamp bulb. I told my husband it is not good they will peck but he just ignored me saying he knows better. Well we have a bully that pecks the others and one so bad blood showed and the other 11 gained up and now it is bleeding on its back and tail. Is tail feathers are completely gone and have of its wing feathers. I finally moved it into a small plastic bin in our small mudroom but have no extra heating lamp. We have a few days old chicks ina small brooder in there with a red 250 heat lamp and the vents are closed so with that and the dryer going it gets pretty hot. I can only be in there a few minutes without feeling faint. I put water and feed for it. Will it be hot enough for it to live? Right now it's just laying and chirps if I stroke it but not much else. It's at 80 in they right now.

 

[Loveabull]

Chicks do not NEED a red bulb heat lamp, but it is recommended to avoid these cases. There are other things that might have caused this. Is the size of the brooder large enough to accommodate all of your 12~ chicks? Sometimes when they do not have enough room to roam, they will get bored and pick at each other. Is there enough feed space for everyone? For this many chicks you should use a large chicken feeder or at least two small chick ones so they will not fight over food. There are other things that you could feed the chicks to keep them occupied so they won't turn on each other like crushed up boiled egg or mealworms. It was a good idea separating the abused chick but it will need to live with others. Chickens are social animals so once it is better, put it back in and closely observe the group so nothing bad happens. 70-75 is an ideal temp for 3 week olds and you definitely do not want to overheat them. For the time the lone chick is isolated, you could put a stuffed animal or something like that to keep it company. Hope the little one recovers and rejoins the group soon!

 

[JSossong]

I was told (never tried because I haven't encountered this problem yet) that if you get some vaseline and rub it on the beak of the chick pecking and on the areas of the other chicks that are getting pecked that this should stop the problem. Let me know if you give it a try and if it works! Good luck!