HELP!!! Older chick attacking new chicks!!!

[leela2012]

Help!
I have a 4 week old Barred Cochin pullet that is 4 weeks old. She has been in the brooder with 4 other 1 week old chicks with no issue, They have all been together for a week with no problem, She actually is very motherly to them So I got 3 new 3 day old Silkies today and put them in with the other babies, and the "momma" Cochin is pecking them really bad. It makes me nervous that she will kill them. Is this normal? I love my new babies and don't want them hurt. Will this 4 weeker stop this anytime soon? They do have the red light which I thought would minimize this. Any advice? I don't want to have to get rid of my Momma bird.

 

[Tressa27884]

Are they bleeding? If they're not, she's not pecking them to hurt them, she may be pecking at thier pin feathers, or food in their feathers. If they're bleeding you want to get them out ASAP. I have 23 babies in my brooder, many different ages, they all do fine together.

 

[leela2012]

No, they arent bleeding, but she attcks only the new 3 chicks i got today! they are the same size as the smaller chicks and she just seems not to want them there. I'm afraid if I leave them there that she will kill them. Again she doesn't mind the others, just these 3 new silkie babies. Almost like she wants them out, like badly. Do you think if I make brooder box way bigger (it's pretty big already) that she might leave them alone? Is there any other trick to get her to accept them? I don't want to separate them if I don't have to!

 

[polishchickens111]

Boredom? Give them all a treat, like tomato or something else like that. Tomato is easy to digest and yummy for chicks.

 

[felidaet]

There may be too much of an age difference. I have had good luck mixing chicks up to 2 weeks difference. I tried mixing them at 3 weeks difference with mixed results. I think 4 weeks is too big of a difference. I would suggest separating the younger ones for a week or so until they get a little bigger and stronger. I had to do this a couple of years ago. I used a piece of scrap hardware cloth to put a temporary divider in the brooder. After 1 week I removed it and they were fine.