Feather picking chicks

[starryhen]

The chicks are about 4 or 5 weeks old. The breed with a problem are the Delawares. One chick is the go to victim for picking and ultimately eating skin. There is a little picking here and there on the others. The Silver Wyandottes seem neither to pick or be picked. What happens is the food chick will take the preferred sleeping spot (she's a character) and wedge herself in between two Wyandottes for warmth and protection and the evil pecking sister will stand up on the two Wyandottes and peck the unfortunate chick who is now wedged into the corner. What is successful so far is to make the box very dark when they sleep and the temperatures on the high side to avoid clumping. My next step is to darken their box any time I think they MIGHT take a nap. However ... my question .... is there anything safe that I can put on the pecked on chick to deter the peckers? I use rosemary tea on the dogs sometimes and chickens don't like that. I'm a little nervous about putting anything on a chick's bare skin that might irritate or attract more peckiing. Any ideas out there?

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi there,
A couple of questions for you - what % protein in your chick feed, do they have enough room? Is it just one chick doing the pecking?

You can try putting a dab of blu-kote on the reddened areas - this should stop the picking in those areas.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Good questions above - I wonder about how much space they have, and what you're feeding.

I assume they're still in the brooder? Assuming there's space for it, and you know which bird(s) are the guilty parties, I would put in a wire divider and put the pickers on one side, the others on the other.

Don't know your climate/temps but if possible I would be looking to transitioning them out into the coop instead - that'll give them more space and keep them occupied so they're hopefully less likely to pick.

 

[50-45-1]

Agree its time for your chicks to go out to the coop or hutch outside where there will be more room.
Also some folks have success with the red lights. It disguises any red or sore areas on a picked chick.
Space, boredom and nutrition all need to be looked at.
Hope you can resolve this quickly.

 

[starryhen]

Thank you for the responses. I use Purina start and grow medicated at 18% + scratch + meal worms. Not too many dry "worms" - just for dessert. They have a jungle gym in their boxes, get vigorous exercise every two or three hours and the weather is often warm enough and they are old enough to go outside for 30 minutes. They are comfortable enough to increase those outside playtimes now. ,,,, I haven't raised a passel of chicks myself for many years. I had usually put them under a broody hen. I never have had any feather picking in my 20 years of having chickens!!! Also, I have made my own chick feed in recent years. I got my original recipe from the Story book on raising ducks and adapted it for the chicken's age and they did well. I guess I might go back to that..... I'm not sure what's at play here. Even while playing outside with plenty to eat and do they will decide to start pecking the food chick after eating their chick feed. Hmmm might be a hint, there, that the chick feed is not adequate.
What little things have had some influence are :
*putting a wee bit of salt in the water every few days,
*keeping the cage very dark during nap times and at night.
*Giving the food chick some undisturbed rest time under my shirt
One big contribution to the problem was that I did not realize what was going on until the food chick presented with a huge wound. Dumb me thought she was just kind of molting. Now, I stay on it to keep any raw sores from developing. As I said, it seems the Delawares, notorious for aggressive behavior anyway, are the only culprits with one being the dominant pecker. I really want to make the food chick's feathers or skin unappetizing before they get any larger. I'll check out that blu-kote

 

[boskelli1571]

Thank you for the responses. I use Purina start and grow medicated at 18% + scratch + meal worms. Not too many dry "worms" - just for dessert. They have a jungle gym in their boxes, get vigorous exercise every two or three hours and the weather is often warm enough and they are old enough to go outside for 30 minutes. They are comfortable enough to increase those outside playtimes now. ,,,, I haven't raised a passel of chicks myself for many years. I had usually put them under a broody hen. I never have had any feather picking in my 20 years of having chickens!!! Also, I have made my own chick feed in recent years. I got my original recipe from the Story book on raising ducks and adapted it for the chicken's age and they did well. I guess I might go back to that..... I'm not sure what's at play here. Even while playing outside with plenty to eat and do they will decide to start pecking the food chick after eating their chick feed. Hmmm might be a hint, there, that the chick feed is not adequate.
What little things have had some influence are :
*putting a wee bit of salt in the water every few days,
*keeping the cage very dark during nap times and at night.
*Giving the food chick some undisturbed rest time under my shirt
One big contribution to the problem was that I did not realize what was going on until the food chick presented with a huge wound. Dumb me thought she was just kind of molting. Now, I stay on it to keep any raw sores from developing. As I said, it seems the Delawares, notorious for aggressive behavior anyway, are the only culprits with one being the dominant pecker. I really want to make the food chick's feathers or skin unappetizing before they get any larger. I'll check out that blu-kote

They need a minimum of 20% protein for the first several weeks of life, so I would up your feed protein.
I have raised Delwares and have not found them to be overly aggressive with other birds - see what happens when you increase the protein and give them more space

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not sure what the salt in the water is supposed to do?

More outside time would help, or more space in the brooder (not sure how large or how it's set up). I still would think about a separation barrier between the pickers and the non pickers, but if you're planning to move them outside soon, then that should hopefully help with the issue.

 

[starryhen]

Thank you for the advice. Here's what worked! I had some calendula ointment that I decided to try. Not knowing how it might affect the chicks, I dabbed as small an amount as I could on the pecked area - 1 to 2 x a day, especially before they went to sleep for the night. I also made sure it was very dark in their room. Now the chick has grown feathers back on her head and the top of her neck and I am no longer putting the ointment on. I'm not sure why only that chick was pecked. It might have been because of her expressive personality. She is a "Delaware" but she has green legs which means to me that there is a green legged outcross somewhere. I used ointment. I thought the gel would have been too strong.