How to stop pecking at younger chicks?

[Quyen Le]

I put 4 week old chicks with 7 week old chicks and the 7 week old chicks peck and scare the younger ones. How can I stop this?

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I don't think you really can. Establishing a pecking order is their natural social behavior and bigger birds pick on smaller birds. I know some places sell anti-pecking spray but I have never used it so I don't know how well it works or if it is safe for young birds.

I would watch them and assess the level of violence. Some pecking and intimidation is natural. Blood and huge chunks of missing feathers is not. If you see any blood isolate that chicken right away - they will all turn on an injured one.

If it is bad then it would probably be better to keep them separated until they are more the same size physically.

 

[colburg]

We've used Rooster Booster Pick-No-More to prevent pecking among chicks that were the same age. If a chick showed any signs of bleeding, we covered it with Farnam's Blue Lotion. Both of these have worked really well so far.

We didn't use either of these until they pecked enough to cause bleeding. The first time they started pecking, the blue lotion stopped it for a few weeks. Then, when it started again, all bleeding chicks got blue lotion, ALL others got Pick-No-More on their butts and shoulders.

Hope this helps.

 

[Quyen Le]

I would leave them alone if the bigger chicks let the smaller ones eat. Now the smaller ones stay in a corner of the coop and can't eat.

 

[colburg]

I would leave them alone if the bigger chicks let the smaller ones eat. Now the smaller ones stay in a corner of the coop and can't eat.

Have you tried multiple feeders spaced apart from each other?

 

[Quyen Le]

Tried Rooster booster pick-no-more but doesn't seem working. Will try separate feeder then, thanks.

 

[Quyen Le]

The big chicks take both feeding trays and push all younger chicks to one corner. They even go in that corner and attack those chicks.