Help!!! Barred Plymouth Rock Chick Terrorizing Brooder Mates

[ChickSter99]

I had to be the mean momma yesterday... I went to the carport to check on our 3 week old chicks and noticed one was missing ALL of her tail feathers to the point of blood. This had happened within an hour of checking on them before hand. I removed her, sprayed her with some "Hot Pick" anti-pick on her rump. She was constantly wanting to pick at her own skin even before I sprayed her. I read somewhere on here to put Vick's Vapor Rub on there to keep the others at bay. I didn't have to worry about the Vick's until checking on my chick that was separated. I realized I may have a bully in the my mix of girls. One of my Barred Plymoth Rocks. Her victims are random and she doesn't just pick or peck. She pulls feathers and makes the other chicks yelp, flap, and run. I noticed another of her victims and sprayed her with anti-pick and put Vick's Vapor Rub on both of my isolated girls. They were so glad to have each other. I decided to just sit back and observe behaviors.

Their separated in a brooder that has 3 levels & gets larger as they grow. They have plenty of space. We have 4 on top which will hold 42, 6 in the middle which will hold 21, and 7 on the bottom which will hold 21. This came from a farmer who raised poultry forever ago, but it works perfect and is spacious. I have them separated by size. This one chick is chasing and harassing 4 other chicks, relentlessly. Well, she got the isolation treatment. She's in a medium sized cat carrier with plenty of shavings, water & food. She can still she the other chicks, but she's not in the brooder with them. I hated to put her in time-out, but she was torturing these poor girls. Even when I tried the other tiers of the brooder, she still terrorized after she figured where she was. I only moved her to the other brooder parts to see if that made a difference in her behavior (& it didn't). There is now peace among the 4 that are now housed together in that part of the brooder because she's not in there. I wanted to try to re-introduce her tomorrow, but I'm don't want her to cause such a problem with the others.

I re-intoduced her this morning and she was an angel (for about 10 minutes). After 10 minutes, she started pecking and pulling feathers again. I removed her from the situation immediately. After a couple of hours, I gave her another chance. When I gave the other girls their grapes and yogart, I let her go back into the brooder. She was fine for 30 minutes this time and then started pulling feathers again. I've separated the one that lost tail feathers and the other that lost back feathers (due to her pecking & pulling). The others will try to stand up to her but she will eventually ware them down. So, she's back in the cat carrier by herself again.

They are fed chick starter/grower with 18% protein & grit. They get electrolytes and vitamins in their water, grapes, yogart, boiled eggs, chick cakes, and I even treat them to some dogfood soaked in yogart and water. These are not things they get everyday (maybe 3x a week). My kids find them grasshoppers & crickets for treats also. I have a combination of Austrolorps, Barred Plymouth Rocks, White Plymouth Rock, Silver Cockoo Maran, Golden Buffs, Welsummer, & RIRs. The only time I notice picking or pecking with the others is when one of the others have something on them or they spot an area that is bare & red. That is quickly nipped with "Hot Pick". Hot Pick & Vick's Vapor Rub doesn't seem to slow her down. If she has one that she wants to pick on, she' going to do it. Hopefully, they will head to the coop/run in the next week or so.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I really don't want to get rid of her.

 

[teach1rusl]

You mentioned the three levels...do you have chicks in the other levels? Older chicks that you could try this grabby one with???
Also, is it apparent that this chick is a pullet?? Is it possible that she's really a "he" and just more aggressive???
If sticking this stinker in with older chicks isn't possible, I would stick with the cat carrier until they're out in the new space, which hopefully will be a big distraction to it...

ETA: Oh, also: Is the chick eating the feathers, or just yanking them out and dropping them??? Eating them would suggested more protein needed... Just pulling them out, but not eating them is just aggression, whether due to asserting domin. or just being a buggar who knows???

 

[terryg]

Put a big clod of dirt with grass, or, even better, dandelions, in the brooder. You want the chicks to learn to peck the ground and not each other. At this age they're getting bored in the brooder. I also put in sticks so that they can investigate and practice roosting. Does the brooder have a solid floor? At this point they shouldn't be on wire. In my experience the barred rocks can be aggressive. They're excellent foragers, but very greedy about food. They need a lot of space to roam. At this point keeping the one trouble maker out of the mix is a good idea. Once in awhile you get one that is hard-wired to be a problem.

 

[ChickSter99]

You mentioned the three levels...do you have chicks in the other levels? Older chicks that you could try this grabby one with???
Also, is it apparent that this chick is a pullet?? Is it possible that she's really a "he" and just more aggressive???
If sticking this stinker in with older chicks isn't possible, I would stick with the cat carrier until they're out in the new space, which hopefully will be a big distraction to it...

ETA: Oh, also: Is the chick eating the feathers, or just yanking them out and dropping them??? Eating them would suggested more protein needed... Just pulling them out, but not eating them is just aggression, whether due to asserting domin. or just being a buggar who knows???

Thank you so much for replying to this post. Peck-Peck is supposed to be a she. I ordered all pullets from the hatchery. She looks like the others just meaner. I haven't really noticed her eating the feathers. I hate to let her pull and pluck long enough to find out. Their feed has 18% protein in it. It's chick starter/grower. They get extra stuff like treats. I had thought about getting her some blinders/peeps.

The chicks in the other parts are the same age. The top are her victims. The middle are my well mannered crew. The bottom is now peaceful w/o her there. I have not noticed anything that would make her look like a roo, but I'm just "getting my feet wet" with all the chicken stuff.

 

[canesisters]

I had one who was a vicious bully in the brooder. As it happened, I had 3 larger chicks and 3 smaller ones (all the same age, different breeds). The little ones were getting picked terribly. I put a piece of fencing across the middle of the brooder to separate it into 2 halves - big ones on one side, little ones on the other. I did the same thing when I moved them to the coop for about a week or so. When I pulled the fence back and let them mingle, the tiniest chick had grown and gotten some confidence and whooped the big bully the first time she tried to get pushy. Little Hurra is still the top girl (for now).
If you can keep them from doing any damage to each other, they may very well work it out once they have a bigger space to keep them busy.

 

[ChickSter99]

Put a big clod of dirt with grass, or, even better, dandelions, in the brooder. You want the chicks to learn to peck the ground and not each other. At this age they're getting bored in the brooder. I also put in sticks so that they can investigate and practice roosting. Does the brooder have a solid floor? At this point they shouldn't be on wire. In my experience the barred rocks can be aggressive. They're excellent foragers, but very greedy about food. They need a lot of space to roam. At this point keeping the one trouble maker out of the mix is a good idea. Once in awhile you get one that is hard-wired to be a problem.

That's a good idea about the clod of dirt with grass and some dandelions (I sure have my share and half of everybody elses out here). The hatchery listed them as a docile breed and a great egg layer. The brooder does have a wire floor. My 13 year old was very inventive and came up with an idea on how to add them a scratch box inside there to occupy their time. He turned one of the feeders that hang on the outside to the inside and filled it with pine shavings (they can't reach over the side of that one from the outside, so it made sense to him to move it in). They have had the best time scratching and making the biggest mess in there. He also hides food in there for them so, when they scratch, they actually find something. lol. He did this in all the brooders. They have another week and their coop & run will be complete. It still needs its 2 doors and its windows framed. Then, they will be ready to go.

 

[ChickSter99]

I had one who was a vicious bully in the brooder. As it happened, I had 3 larger chicks and 3 smaller ones (all the same age, different breeds). The little ones were getting picked terribly. I put a piece of fencing across the middle of the brooder to separate it into 2 halves - big ones on one side, little ones on the other. I did the same thing when I moved them to the coop for about a week or so. When I pulled the fence back and let them mingle, the tiniest chick had grown and gotten some confidence and whooped the big bully the first time she tried to get pushy. Little Hurra is still the top girl (for now).
If you can keep them from doing any damage to each other, they may very well work it out once they have a bigger space to keep them busy.

I have a little Ancona that seems to be top chick in the part that Peck-Peck was in. My children named her accordingly. The Ancona (Dot, again bc of the dot on her head) is the smallest but she rules the roost down there. Peck-Peck would chase her but she would turn around and peck her back and even try to jump on her head. lol. The kids were rooting and cheering "gooooo Dot!" lol.

 

[ChickSter99]

Do ya'll think that peeps/blinders would be a bad idea for her?

 

[teach1rusl]

I've never tried peepers, but do they even sell them that small??? I've only heard of using them on more adult-like birds. Your chicks will be doing a lot of fast growing over the next 2-3 months, so I'm not sure peepers would be the best answer??? But you could always give it a shot. I do like the suggestion of simply sectioning off an area of one brooder for the aggressive chick until the coop is ready.

 

[ChickSter99]

I went and observed her more closely this morning. Eventhough it was painful for me and even more painful for the other birds, I did notice that she is eating the fuzzy feathers instead of the big feathers that they get. When I picked her up, I checked her to make sure I didn't see any critters on her. She checked out clean, although, I did notice that her feathers had flakes in them. Her skin is not flakey. Just her feathers. She is getting everything the other chicks are getting. Why would she be the only one with this problem? They all get diatomatious earth sprinkled in the pine shavings.