help! 4 day old chick really aggressive!

[Christie Rhae]

I got 10 chicks in the mail yesterday and they are the cutest things in the world!
Early this morning I kept hearing a little outburst now and then. They had been pretty quiet all night so I went to check on them. One easter egger chick was trying to pull eye lids off everyone! She was not picking on any one chick in particular. She just would walk up...check out another chicks eye and peck! She would get ahold of the eyelid and hang on! The other chick would squeak and fight to get away being held by an eyelid. I saw the aggressive chick do this about 6 times and then grabbed her out of the brooder. I set her into a small box with food and water and set that back in the brooder. While she is in this box she mostly sleeps.
I forgot to mention she is the most rambunctious of all the chicks. Doing laps around everyone. All the other chicks will doze but not her. But in the box she will sleep.
So after a few hours I figure she is rested and calmed down and can act civilized. I took her out of "time out" and she immediately runs a few laps, stomping over her sisters making them squawk. The she starts again... trying to rip eyelids off the other chicks. What the heck?! She is back in her timeout box sleeping peacefully.

 

[midd2005]

i have the same problem. really, it sounds exactly the same. mine started right after they all figured out where the food and water was, as in, day 2 of their existence. then it was straight for the eyes. i've kept her sequestered in their shipping box since then and after 2 days of that just tried to reintroduce her. it didn't go well.

unfortunately i posted about this problem and didn't really get any helpful suggestions. i wish you better luck. let me know if you try something and it works.

i'm starting to think about how i'm going to get rid of her, which totally sucks.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I am thinking of calling the hatchery for advice.
My husband asked this morning "did you cull her?" Gasp! No! lol
She is so cute but I am worried that the shipping ordeal might have cracked her little mind. Now she is uber aggressive.

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

I posted this a couple weeks ago....
Did not get any suggestions outside of culling but then found a link to the site below on another thread. I really recommend trying the suggestions there even with the little guys. It made a big difference although I am keeping a close eye on this little one and have not ruled out culling him/her (looking kinda pulletish). Good information on chicken social behaviour.
Good luck!

We have a very lovely gentle flock. Our most recent hatch (Australorps and EE AustralorpXAmericauna) is now 4 weeks old and we have what seemed to be one very outgoing little grey. When the chicks were about a week old I had them out for some exercise in the bunny run and this little one actually chased down our bunny and jumped on his back. At the time it was semi cute. When out in the garden he runs to the fencing if anyone approaches.... even leaving the other chicks across the garden. Seems very outgoing and friendly with people....does not peck. He is fine for us to handle him and is handled by kids and fine with that. He is the first to come and greet the humans.
Today I saw a different side when I had them in the coop while the big guys were in the run. He was really being nasty attacking....not just pecking but pinning to the ground and pulling out little fluffy baby feathers from the others....all others not just the boys (or our best guess of who are boys at this age)
The normal development of pecking order is one thing but what I saw todayis pretty excessive for what I have experienced with any of my other chicks. After what I saw today I am concerned that this outgoing nature may just be aggression.?? We use strategies with our other roos that we have learned on BYC (i.e. no mating behaviour in front of us, making sure hens and pullets get treats first, breaking up the "baby cock fights") to hopefully have a gentle flock.
We won`t tolerate an aggressive roo and our extra boys all get to go to freezer camp when they are old enough as would nasties if we have them.
I want to be as proactive as possible with this little one as he is certainly different then our experience so far.
DH thinks he is a sociopath
Any tips, stories or suggestions would be appreciated.
We have an 18 month old granddaughter and children of friends who love our chickens so we are very guarded with keeping our flock gentle.

http://shilala.homestead.com/roosters.html

 

[sharol]

When I read the post from Christie, I thought of your earlier post, but I couldn't find it. Was your problem also with an EE? Maybe there was a hatch problem (birth defect? they say some sociopathic behavior can be a result of various birth defects in human babies, why not chicks?).

Quote:

 

[sharol]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=379153&p=2

There is another similar instance in this thread.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I am reading all the comments from both message threads. Very informative. Maybe we can combine our threads? lol

I am going to implement everything I have read. Oh yeah I also did my homework and am using a red light, temp around 95-98 with room for them to get away if they feel too warm.
Anyhoo... Here is what I am doing:
I have a "timeout" cage inside the brooder for the bully. When I am hovering over the chicks (most of the time) I let her run free and if I see any naughty behavior I discourage it.
We are trying to hold her alot so she knows she is not the boss of the world.
I have tossed some shiny marbles into the brooder as well as a mirror.
I threw in a few uncooked paste spirals in.
I scattered some feed into the pine shavings so they can be busy scratching at that.
I set a big sprig of parsley in for them to investigate.
I read somewhere that if you give chicks anything other than the chick feed they need grit so I scattered some of that onto the pine shavings as well. I did not want to offer a whole bowl in case they would eat too much.
So... other than calling in a chicken whisperer I think I have done all I can.

Here are some pics...
The inmate...cute as sin.

Our brooder with my 5:30am timeout box. She is in there in that little cardboard box.

My revised timeout box, so she can still see her buddies but not gouge their eyes out.

And just an update while I am working on this post with the brooder box right near me and after implementing all the changes I mentioned above I have not seen a single violent act. Fingers crossed.

Now it is time for me to go cook some oatmeal for my big girls out in the chicken coop (6 8week old production reds). I am so glad they all get along! lol

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Quote:
OMG....she is so cute!!!!
Here is my McNasty at a couple days old....and again the one who is right out front.

I hope everything works out with her and BTW I do love your "timeout box"....you might be able to market those

 

[Christie Rhae]

Mrs. Feathers :

OMG....she is so cute!!!!
Here is my McNasty at a couple days old....and again the one who is right out front.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/52993_img_2158.jpg
I hope everything works out with her and BTW I do love your "timeout box"....you might be able to market those

She looks so sweet and innocent! lol I have 5 barred rock chicks and 5 easter eggers. So far the barred rocks are sooo sweet and passive. I figured it must be a breed characteristic. It is the easter eggers that are kinda "confident". I wonder if they may be 12 hours older or something. It could make a diff. I would imagine.​

 

[ChickaBea]

"Time out box" is such a great idea. I wonder what got into her? Hopefully she'll get over it... Because she's too cute for supper!