Help! Mean chick:(

[Rubyrocket]

I brought home four new chicks today, one Rhode Island Red, one Ameraucana, one Astralorp, and a Jersey Giant. The Jersey Giant, which happens to be the smallest of them all, is pecking at the other chicks to the point that they cry out. She has targeted the Red and will go after her every time she wakes up. Should I be returning her for another Jersey Giant chick, or is this a bread issue? Could it also be an issue of age, I think that she is younger than the one she is targeting? What I do know is she needs to be removed if this continues. Advice needed:/

Thanks

 

[WildWalker]

To what extent if the Jersey pickin at the Rhodie? Its natural for them to pick at each other for maybe the first few days until they realize it isn't food(or whatever motivates chickens to experimentally pick). If this chick is actually picking feathers out or leaving bloody spots they should be separated immediately, imo. I'm unsure if anti-picking products can be used on a chick to prevent further damage, but I'm sure someone else will know on this forum. If it can, I would apply some as a deterrent and see if it works, if it doesn't appear to be working I would either return the chick or separate it from the rest and get more chicks to keep it company. These birds are extremely social, and tend to go nuts if left alone.

All chickens will pick for varying reasons, or none at all - thanks to chicken logic. That I can recall, picking occurs out of boredom, and/or a protein deficiency - and I'm sure there's a few other reasons.

I'm no expert about mean chickens, treating picking or Jerseys for that matter, but I suppose I've been blessed with wonderfully tame babies, although they're a bit enthusiastic about wasting their food - the wierdoes.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[TheNat]

What color of lamp are you using? I started my chicks under a white lamp and had some pecking issues, so, at the advice of others, purchased an infrared lamp (from the petstore, the kind usually used for reptiles). They can't peck what they can't see, and the red lamp makes it like nightime for them. After I put in the red lamp , the chicks got calmer and there was less pecking.

Some people put the chicks under the red lamp 24/7--this is what factory farms (and some other people) recommend to help them rest more and grow. I felt like that was too artificial so I have them under the white lamp durring the day and the red one at night. I still get bennefits from the red lamp in that they seem to be calmer and peck eachother less. Also, they more or less sleep through the night once I put the red lamp on, wheras before with the white lamp they sometimes made a big racket in the wee hours.

So, if you have a white lamp, try swapping it for a red one and see if the pecking subsides.