I have a 3 week old chick that pecked a bleeding hole in its brooder mate last week. I've separated her so she can see her friends but not peck them. The good news is that the injured chick is doing really well. The bad news is that the aggressor just seems to have a bad pecking habit. When I can supervise, I put her in with her friends and she is good for a while, but then inevitably she starts pecking the other chicks and trying to pull out their feathers. I'm just curious if anyone has successfully rehabbed a chick with this issue? My first hope is that she grows out of it. Failing that, she is going out a bit earlier than her brooder mates to the coop and maybe the big girls can boss it out of her. If that doesn't work, I was thinking of trying the pinless peeper things: http://www.eggcartons.com/Pinless-Peepers/productinfo/PINLESS-P/ And if for some reason that fails us, I have a friend who offered to take her to live in her yard in the city. Unfortunately she would be an only chicken in that case and I know that is generally not a good thing, but if the alternative is the stew pot...
I just wouldn't bother with such an aggressive bird. Or build her a separate run. Had a fine horse once who would savage any other pasture mate and he just had to be kept to himself. good luck, n vary
I used the peepers and had some success with them, but an aggressive chicken will likely always be aggressive. Send the bully out into the big-girl pen early. If she survives she will likely become a problem for another day, but at least you gave her a chance. Good luck.
Thanks folks! Right now I am combining her with her friends when I am around and separating her when I can't supervise or when she goes pecky on the others. She was good for an hour or so this afternoon. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she can be rehabbed. We'll see. She doesn't seem aggressive really, just has an overactive pecking drive. She pecks at everything constantly. The walls of her box, the perch, everything. Well whatever will be will be. But I'll give it a shot. My 7 year old has bonded with this chick so getting rid of her would be difficult. Pics of the offender and her guardian:
if you dont plan on showing her, i dont reccomend this because i dont like to do this, but you can debeak if it becomes a really bad problem!
maybe for now clip the tip of her beak and nail file it down a bit so it is smooth and less harmful to the victim? Unless you are sure you are going to put her in with the big girls. she might need her beak intact to defend herself.
