Eye Pecking!! HELP!!!

[lazy gardener]

Please, before filing or clipping the beak, try giving her some salt water: 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in a cup of water. She could have a mineral imbalance. It couldn't hurt, and just might help.

 

[enola]

Is the bully's crop full? If she is hungry this can cause pecking.

 

[feather13]

Thanks for all this great information! And sorry, FreedomFarm, that your chick is so aggressive! We're having the same problem. We recently got ten chicks of assorted breeds. The small chick is an eye pecker and is completely relentless. I'm so glad to have found this thread.

My question is: where do you get the red bulb for the lamp? Making a bully corral or filing down the beak aren't options for me, so am hoping the lamp works or that I'll be able to return this eye pecking creature to the feed store.

Thanks!

 

[justplainbatty]

Thanks for all this great information! And sorry, FreedomFarm, that your chick is so aggressive! We're having the same problem. We recently got ten chicks of assorted breeds. The small chick is an eye pecker and is completely relentless. I'm so glad to have found this thread.

My question is: where do you get the red bulb for the lamp? Making a bully corral or filing down the beak aren't options for me, so am hoping the lamp works or that I'll be able to return this eye pecking creature to the feed store.

Thanks!

I doubt the feed store will take it back. You should be able to get the red heat lamps there though. Make sure the shield has the safety wire in front and it has a clamp.

 

[enola]

How old is the eye picker?

 

[rlbrand]

I have this same issue. Glad to find the thread. I do use a red light, and have a 4x4 brooder with 15, 1 week old chicks. The smallest chick I have is what I think maybe a welsummer, which is pecking all the other chicks eyes. He or she is definitely going straight for everyone's eyes, I have lost one chick already due to the bully... I separated it right away, and found a chick it had pecked both its eyes closed. I took the sick chick and separated it, but it didn't live through the night. I have tried to reintroduce the bully after a whole day of isolation and it went right back to eye pecking. I isolated it again through the night. This morning I put him back in, 5 mins later i found one chick with an eye swelled shut, and another with a bloody eye... I found my little welsummer running around pecking more eyes... I have separated him again, and now wondering how long I should try to rehabilitate this eye pecker... or just give him away...

I do think that the beak filing or trimming would make sense, and not be harmful as i would only do to the point where it would grow back.. but I just can't bring myself to do it.. it is hard as they move around so much, and just too scared to hurt it by accidentally trimming too short since its wiggling around...

 

[Shezadandy]

I don't know if this will help anyone, but regarding light being an instigating factor for aggression- in our brooder we turned over a 2x4x2 water tank and put bedding in it to provide "shade"- enough area for everyone to get out of the light which was an overhead light in a bedroom- used a Sweeter Heater as heat. If properly positioned, I bet it could work for shade from a heat lamp situation. Fortunately no eye peckers! The tank wasn't all the way against the wall so there were alleys behind and on the side.