Help Chicks Going After Each Other's Eyes!

[Eliza]

New bantam chickies fresh from tractor supply - couldn't resist - they're so small.... they are lively and active, but THEY PECK AT each other's eyes! What gives with that?

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

I had a 3 day old bully chick that was going to put an eye out, I had to put him with my 2-3 week olds and she is doing fine now, I think they put her in her place, lol.

 

[Domestic_goddess]

Mine do this occasionally too, they are just curious at what that shiny thing is. I wouldn't worry to much, unless they look overly agressive and actually hurting eachother.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

what kind of lamp do you have them under? I know sometimes people say a red lamp helps prevent pecking by making it harder for them to see eachother. If you have a red lamp then maybe they just see these little black dots wandering all over the place and they look so yummy!

either way, whatever color you have, try switching it?

 

[Judy]

I'd drop the temp and probably increase the ventilation in the brooder. Tell us about your setup, or read the sticky at the beginning of this forum (Raising Baby Chicks.)

 

[Eliza]

I have regular rubber maid tub with shavings, water and chick starter. I also have a red lamp. I thought it must be too hot, so I raised the light to see if that quells the activity. It appears to have done so. The most aggresive chick appears to be a cochin blue. The others appear to be wearing eye liner have a dark brown stripe down their backs with the strip outlined by a buff color (not that any of that matters, but I'm curious as to what they may be. Some of the chicks slep on their back, is that ok?

 

[Eliza]

I've dropped the temp, and put food in the litter for them to find. It maybe that they are hungry

 

[midd2005]

i had one who did this non stop for the first couple days. i had to separate her out for fear of someone losing an eye. she was still in the brooder but within a cardboard box (the box they came in) and could see the others through a couple holes and definitely hear them. this was really hard to do as clearly no one was happy about this but it had to be done. a couple times a day, id put her back in with the rest. for a while she would go straight for the eyes. she was peck and bite down hard and even drag them around if she could. it was weird really. and then, after a couple days, she just stopped.

 

[gryeyes]

The behavior usually goes away after a few days, honest. They're just pecking at shiny things. USUALLY there is no damage, although we can see from earlier posts that it can occur with aggressive behavior. But the eye pecking thing really does go away after a while.

 

[Eliza]

yes, it has subsided. So far I've only lost one - caught in the small waterer and drowned..

It was the blue cochin banty too

some sleep on their backs - is this ok?