Chicks plucking, HELP!

[18chicks]

Hi All

I have been using this board for the past few weeks, while raising our first group of chics 18 in all. We are now having our first dilemma, we woke this morning and one of the 4 week olds had it tail feathers plucked out, the area was raw and bleeding, we quickly seperated here from her 11 brooder mates, we then called the feed store, and they instructed us to use the blue coat, which we have done but the chic will not leave the area alone! so 2 questions, will the blue coat harm her if she ingests it? and how do I keep this from happening again?

Thanks for your help

Joe

 

[chcknrs]

Sounds like your chicks may have outgrown their brooder. How big is it? If your coop is already built, you can put them in it with a heat source. You also can try giving them something to play with....a bowl of dirt, some meal worms, a wad of colored yarn. Chicks tend to get bored in small confined spaces, and then start to peck each other.
Blu Kote shouldn't hurt them, should help stop pecking. If the chick is pecking itself, you might want to try putting some triple antibiotic on the area to help it heal and hopefully discourage the pecking.

 

[ChicksInOKLA]

I think you most determine which chick started it and remove the instigator.

I am new to chicks but had the same problem with our 17 mixed breed flock when they were about 4 weeks old. We got up one morning to discover a chick being chased by most of the flock, bleeding, and missing tail feathers. Once she was removed, we observed throughout the day to determine who the ring leader was. We caught our rooster picking on a 2nd chick who was already bleeding with tail feathers missing. So I removed him-the instigator!

This is the advice I got from reading old posts on this forum, and it worked. I sprayed the blue kote on the tail feathers of the two injured chicks and put them back with the flock while the feathers were still wet. They did peck at themselves and so did a few other chicks which means we had a few purple beaked chicks, but it must taste and smell very bad to them as the other chicks tried to wipe it off their beaks and did not peck again. The two injured birds did fuss with the area on themselves a bit more for a day or two, but it must not be harmful as I now have a healthy and happy flock of 13 week olds.

The little roo stayed in a seperate area for four days. He could see them and was not very happy. I felt really bad, but when I did return him with the other chicks, he was now at the bottom of the pecking order, and we did not have any more problems. They had plenty of room, the right temp, and good feed. I think they were just bored. We started hanging up pieces of cauliflour for them to peck at. We also put a little piece of bread in a cat ball for them to chase around and peck at.

 

[SoccerMomof7]

I had the same problem and I used vasaline, they hate the way it feels on their beak. I also used betadine to clean it. You might also try pine tar.