Injured (pecked and picked on) chick, and a question about correcting twisted toes...

[RobertInVegas]

Hello, seems nine of the chicks have ganged up on one of them, removed the feathers from his saddle and from parts of his sides, drew blood from tail feathers too. About 90% sure he is a rooster, there five weeks and two days old now, so it's still hard to tell. His hackle feathers are pointed, and his comb/waddle are more pronounced than all but one of the other nine.

We've separated him, he's now inside with us. I know we'll need to allow him to be outside with the rest of them if we're ever going to reintroduce him to the flock, so we'll bring him outside and let him roam around the coop/run while supervised. When he has recovered, we'll reintroduce him.

What would you all recommend as far as treatment for his injuries? What sort of isolation practice?

He's our "special" chick, his toes are somewhat deformed (he gets around fine, but I'd still like to see if we can correct them), so I'd rather not send him back to the farm where the eggs came from as was the original plan. My friend hatched them as a project with her special needs students, since they don't get to go to a regular science class, and I had planned on taking a half-dozen or so hens. Ended up taking all ten (16 hatched originally, two did not make it, and a sibling of one of her students took four), with the idea that I would return the roosters to the farm that laid them. I suspect they'd simply cull him though, and I cannot bear the thought. If I can nurse him back to health and correct his toes, then he'd be fine. And if he isn't too loud, we might simply keep him.

Here's a couple of pics of Frank. He really is very sweet and quite docile. Likes to be held, and will snuggle in my lap too. I'll take better pics of his feet this weekend and ask for advice on correcting that too. He has beautiful coloring, but so do all of the rest.





Thank you for your help.

Robert

 

[CMV]

He is too old to correct the toes at this point. That is something that really needs to be done ASAP for any real effect. He can adapt to it, so do not worry overmuch about it. You can build him some special roosts to help him out, no doubt. Some pics of the toes would help us to help you in creating those roosts. You will need to watch his feet in the future for bumblefoot because birds that are not walking on their feet correctly are more prone to that.

I would coat his damaged and bald areas in Blukote. That will hide scabs/blood/wounds from the sight of his coop mates. That should stop the persistent pecking.

Do they have enough space? Are they getting enough protein? Do they have diversions and obstacles in the run?

 

[Eggcessive]

It might be a little late to correct the toes, but I would give it a try anyway. They are best helped with tape and cardboard or just duck tape when they are a few days old. They do okay with crooked toes later though, just cannot grasp the roosts as well. Flat side up 2x4 roosts are best for them. If I were you, I would put him in a cage back out in the coop, and move him outside in his cage with the gang during the day. You don't want him to be away from his flock since they are right now establishing their pecking order. I can't understand why he was picked on unless there is a lack of space or things to do, climb on, explore, etc. They should be getting enough protein (20%) with chick starter, but don't give them many treats to keep the protein up since it helps to prevent picking. I have seen some cockerels be the most docile members of the flock until the hormones kick in around 4-5 months, so maybe that's why he was picked on.

 

[SIMZ]

I just had the same thing happen with a meat chick I was trying to raise with some layer chicks. I put an anti-pick lotion from Rooster Booster on it, and it worked for a little bit, but then they started back in. I ended up separating the poor guy. He has so much red skin poking through that I'd almost have to dunk him in the stuff to keep him protected.

Sorry I'm not much help, but hopefully someone else will chime in. He doesn't have a lot of redness, so the lotion may work better (blu-coat is another option) and he'll be able to be put back. Giving your chicks something else to do might help - like perches, greens or red cabbage to peck, etc. This is usually a result of not having enough to do and being too crowded.

 

[Eggcessive]

SIMZ has a good suggestion about the anti-pick lotion or BluKote to disguise the redness of the wound or bare skin. Another option is Bag Balm which has a bad taste to the others if they peck it.

 

[Wrightsx4]

I had a male chick that this happened to as well last year. They had a whole coop and run to themselves (lots of room) 20% protein feed, no additional snacks except I did try one of those baby chick blocks of seed mix to try to get them to peck something besides him. Bluekote didn't help in our case although I've had it work in other situations very well. I wanted to keep him with his flock mates if possible. His tail and back were bare. Three chicks seemed to be the instigators and I still have trouble with those three as adults - pulling feathers. I ended up making him a mini apron - just like the older hens wear except I added a tail cover. I used a pattern online and downsized all around. They totally lost interest once he was covered and he was able to regrow his feathers. It took several weeks.
Not easy to see, but here's a pic- this was after it wore out a little, the tail flap became more like fringe.

 

[RobertInVegas]

They are on 20% starter, organic, their second bag after the medicated starter they had originally. I had been giving them mealworms too, but I will stop that, at least for a while. They have enough space, and are pecking/scratching at the ground, digging holes and laying/taking dirt baths. They go up on the ramp to the coop, go under the coop and seem to be fairly well adjusted to it. They've only been outside for a few days, the feather removal started in the brooder. They were in their too long while I finished the coop. Yesterday we noticed the others pecking at him when ever he laid down. He'd be off to one side, out of the way, and a chick would come from across the coop and peck at his backside/saddle. Today they ganged up on him and drew blood/tore out tail feathers, prompting his removal from the run/coop and my post.

I had him outside the run after that, sitting in my lap for a half hour, and then letting him wander the rest of the yard while we watched. He walked around the coop/run, scratched/pecked, dug a couple of holes, rolled in the dirt, and seemed very content. After we brought him inside he started to stress, so I repurposed an old extra large dog crate and faced him towards the run. He settled down after that, and went to sleep when the sun started to set and we moved the others inside the coop for the night.

The coop has several branches for perches inside, a lower one in the middle about a foot off the floor, and two others a foot or so higher. They are staggered/spaced so they can go from the lower one to the higher ones and so they won't be roosting over each other. The area that will be nesting boxes once I divide it is also available, also about a food off the main floor. There were chicks on all three of the perches when I looked in on them before going to work (an hour before sunrise), and my wife noted a similar condition when she let them into the run around 7 this morning.

I will get some Blukote tomorrow on my way home from work and will try the cape if that doesn't work. Will take pics of his feet this weekend and post them as well. The center toe is somewhat rolled to the side on both feet, and the outer toe on his left foot, inner toe on his right seem to be as well. He can get around fine, scratches/digs, climbs the ramp, and moves around on the perches without issue too. He is able to crab/sit on my finger and the side of my hand/arm fine too. Still, I will see what I can do to get his feet sorted out and make adaptations as needed.

I will be adding branches as perches in the run this weekend (planned) and will also see what I can do about adding other obstacles/distractors. I have a couple of different sized plastic buckets, can I turn them upside down and maybe cut access holes so they can go inside/under them? I have several large diameter tree branches, would that work too? Other suggestions?

As for the additional treats/greens/red cabbage, do I put scraps in? Individual leaves/larger chunks (like the portion removed from the bottom of Romaine lettuce)? We have Romaine lettuce and tomatoes as part of our regular diet, is it okay to allow them scraps? We normally compost these things, but allowing the chicks to have at them would also work.

I cannot thank you all enough for your responses. I imagine I was more traumatized than Frank was, especially with the blood from the tail feathers.

Thank you again,

Robert

 

[Eggcessive]

Healthy scrap with no salt are usually fine for chickens as long as chicken feed makes up 90% of their diet. I give mine the old grapes, and although mine don't like lettuce, chopped up kale is candy to them. Wrightx4, that looks like a cute little salmon faverolles cockerel, or is he another breed?

 

[Wrightsx4]

He was hatched from the last egg of a favorite hen I lost to a raccoon last March. She was a salmon faverolles. His dad was an Easter Egger.