Help! newbie and we've lost 2 chicks in the last 24 hrs!

[Cathyge416]

Hi All,

WHew, what a weekend! Yesterday (saturday the 21st of July) we banged out the coop to at least a condition the chicks can live in. They are doing ok in their new, spacious digs - thank goodness, lots of new stuff to play on and area to investigate. BUT the suspect chicken that may have done the killing ( an 8 week old Ameracauna - the biggest and oldest one of the chicks) is still up to no good. She (?) is attacking the backs above the tails of 3 of the other chicks - they are bare and bloodied - and I am wondering if we have a nasty roo? Does anyone know how to sex an ameracauna? I have been advised to cull the guilty chick, since it will continue to happen. Not sure what to do, and kinda leaning towards sending her (?) on to at least someone else? Cathy

 

[CAjerseychick]

Hi All,

WHew, what a weekend! Yesterday (saturday the 21st of July) we banged out the coop to at least a condition the chicks can live in. They are doing ok in their new, spacious digs - thank goodness, lots of new stuff to play on and area to investigate. BUT the suspect chicken that may have done the killing ( an 8 week old Ameracauna - the biggest and oldest one of the chicks) is still up to no good. She (?) is attacking the backs above the tails of 3 of the other chicks - they are bare and bloodied - and I am wondering if we have a nasty roo? Does anyone know how to sex an ameracauna? I have been advised to cull the guilty chick, since it will continue to happen. Not sure what to do, and kinda leaning towards sending her (?) on to at least someone else? Cathy

HHHHMMMMM I am one of the newbies -- but I did hear somewhere around the Forum to take the Bully out and keep it in a seperate pen (at least give the picked on ones time to heal and maybe catch up in size) then reintroduce the bully- she/he will have to work its way up the pecking order again and hopefully wont be such a Bully...

 

[what did I do]

I used something called rooster booster on my chicks that got pecked on. It worked wonderfully. The chicks do need to heal. I've heard that feeding them a little salt helps too. Too much salt will kill them but they need a little. The older chicks will keep pecking until the boo-boo is gone.

 

[Cathyge416]

Well,

the she turned out to be an aggressive roo! She/he is now gone and peace reigns in the coop - yay! I went and got some wound spray (the purple stuff) and the little ones tushies are purple now. No new blood and hopefully things will settle down. They already seem happier - they made a dust bath right inside the door, which they couldn't do before - grumpy chased them away. I am considering adding a few blk orps approximately the same age while they are rewriting the pecking order. We'll see. They are loving the grass, weeds, cuttings and kitchen scraps I am throwing in there - anyone know of things they should not eat? Thanks to everyone! Cathy

 

[Cathyge416]

BTW we are sitting out by the coop watching the shenanigans while hubby installs the auto waterer - the chicks are happy and chasing each other around - hubby keeps singing "ding, dong, the witch is dead"! Lol!

 

[galefrances]

Well,

the she turned out to be an aggressive roo! She/he is now gone and peace reigns in the coop - yay! I went and got some wound spray (the purple stuff) and the little ones tushies are purple now. No new blood and hopefully things will settle down. They already seem happier - they made a dust bath right inside the door, which they couldn't do before - grumpy chased them away. I am considering adding a few blk orps approximately the same age while they are rewriting the pecking order. We'll see. They are loving the grass, weeds, cuttings and kitchen scraps I am throwing in there - anyone know of things they should not eat? Thanks to everyone! Cathy

Glad your problem is solved The only thing I know they can't eat are citrus and apple cores. But if you look on the website here, there's a chart of what you can feed them.

 

[Cathyge416]

Thankyou! I will look for the chart. The only thing someone told me was no leaves from any trees with sap in them? It will be good to know for sure. Thanks to everyone!

 

[Hazard]

How big is this horse trough? 13 chicks at 5.5-7.5 weeks are pretty big to still be in an enclosed pen. Is it like a water trough? If so, you wouldnt be getting very good air ciruclation in that.

 

[Hazard]

Wrong thread....sorry

 

[Hazard]

Nope...right thread. Didnt realize there was a page 2 and 3. Hope all is well with you now.