feather picking in 1 month olds

[Christine21656]

I have 1 month old chicks, and one is picking the feathers on the others. I seperated her, and haven't noticed any of the others doing it. I also sprayed them all with blu-kote. Is there anything else I can do? Will I be able to re-introduce the bully after a few days? The others seem a lot more at ease without her in there

I feel bad for her, though. She doesn't like being alone! I have her right ext to the others, so she can see them.

 

[ladybug99]

I had some issues with mine when they were young.. I increased thier protein for a few days and the problem went away....I fed hard boiled egg, cooked fish, canned tuna and even some wet dog food... mine girls are piggies and will eat anything.. now I feed them something protein rich at least once a week

 

[Christine21656]

Ok, I'll try that! We give them treats every day, but they aren't always protein rich. They did get some boiled egg today, though. Thanks!

 

[Crabella]

Resurrecting this thread because I am having this issue. The chicks are all being fed 18% medicated chick starter/grower.

When this first started I pulled the offender and put it in the 2nd brooder with sex-link roos destined for freezer camp. I blue-koted the chick victims from the first brooder. Within an hour it had pulled feathers from every single one of the sex-link roos, drawing blood on most of them. One poor little guy lost every little tail feather he had. I isolated the offender in a large dog crate and increased protein for several days. Today I tried putting 5 other chicks with her/him. Within minutes the feather picking started again.

Now what do I do? I've pulled the offender out and put it into yet another dog crate, though smaller than the first. I am running out of options, the coop isn't done due to the winds we have been having. The chicks are growing fast and the brooder is getting crowded, which is one of the reasons I tried to reintroduce flock mates. It's a buff orpington one of four, three of which appear to be roos.

Is this something that is going to be a continuing issue? Extra roos are going to go to freezer camp, but at 5 weeks it is no where near ready for that. It was clearly unhappy about being isolated (it could see the others). I don't have the space to permanently isolate. I could put it out with the grown flock, but introducing one little roo, well, I know the outcome would not be good, or kind...