Chicks Picking At Eyes Of Others

[juliect]

My chicks arrived this morning from MyPetChicken. Yay! Problem is one of them keeps picking at the eyes and faces of the others, to the point if he gets a hold on any facial feathers he latches on and won't let go. I have the picker separated from the pickees with a wire divider. He has his own food and water, but all he does is lean against the wire, watching the others, & chirping. I have tried placing him back with the others from time to time, but he starts right back after their faces again. How long does he need to be separated?

Help! Suggestions?

 

[gritsar]

Hi Julie,
What type of heat lamp are you using? A red heat bulb can solve the pecking issues some of the time, because it makes everything look the same.

 

[juliect]

A 150 watt infrared.
I bought a red bulb because I had read here at BYC that it could prevent picking, which is why I was surprised at its aggressiveness.

 

[cmom]

I would keep the bully separated for a couple of days then see how things go.

 

[Sundance01]

You might want to try spraying him with a small water bottle when he pecks at them. I did this with a chick I had that was aggresive and it worked.

 

[juliect]

Quote:

I do that with my dogs and cats! Now all I have to do is reach for a spray bottle (even if its not a "bad cat bottle") and everyone freezes to see who is in trouble.

 

[gritsar]

Since you are already using a red light and know how to use a squirt bottle

the only thing I can suggest is to keep the pecker seperated for a few days. Some chicks just seem to hatch easily overstimulated.

 

[SimplyForties]

I had that same problem with one of my chicks and ended up keeping her in chicken jail for about 3 days before she settled down. One of the things that changed after three days is that the other chicks started to fight back and the aggressive one fell in the pecking order.

 

[juliect]

Quote:
Cool! I can't wait. He is a feisty little bugger, so the others have a lot of catching up to do. He came out of the shipping box hyper & running

Thanks for the info everyone!!

 

[juliect]

Good news! Charles (aka The Pecker) has been successfully reintroduced back in with the other chicks. Yay! All eight are calm, healthy, well adjusted, and growing like little weeds. I may survived this after all

Thanks for all the advice and reassurance everyone!

Here is a pic of the former eye-pecker peacefully co-existing with his relatives (he is the one in the center with black spots on head & back)...