Is it possible to have an aggressive 1 day old chick??

[Ducks4us]

Is it possible for a one or two day old chick to be aggressive? I bought 6 day old silkies yesterday. One is a buff and will not stop biting onto the other ones beaks and wont let go, will even drag them a bit by the beak. Also grabbed ahold of ones leg feather and drug it by its leg.
Constantly pecking at the others and wont stop.
Actually 5 silkies and 1 cochin bantam... Not 6 silkies

 

[RodNTN]

My 4 or 5 day old chicks can sometimes pick at each other, do they have enough space? They could be doing it because of boredom. Is your heat lamp (do you have a lamp or some other type of heater)? If they do have a lamp is it clear or red? Red could calm them down, but 250 watt red bulbs can get very hot (be careful!) Try to distract them, give them some treats (don't over do it) For a distraction for my picking chicks i gave them some worms or oats.

 

[Ducks4us]

My 4 or 5 day old chicks can sometimes pick at each other, do they have enough space? They could be doing it because of boredom. Is your heat lamp (do you have a lamp or some other type of heater)? If they do have a lamp is it clear or red? Red could calm them down, but 250 watt red bulbs can get very hot (be careful!) Try to distract them, give them some treats (don't over do it) For a distraction for my picking chicks i gave them some worms or oats.

Thank you for your advice... Everyone seems to be a comfortable temp , just got them last night. And its a red light.
They are pretty tiny still and in a container 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. It leaves the others alone briefly while eating,,, but once everyone settles down to sleep under the light it just wont give up. Im afraid it will hurt the others. Everyone else does tiny pecks at each other as they fall asleep but this one seems crazy. Obsessivly pecking and it hangs on to whatever it grabs and pulls them.
When i was picking them out at the feed store there was a little buff silkie dragging another by its wing and i said i dont want that one!! And im pretty sure she ended up giving me that one.
Im afraid it will hurt the others eyes as it grabs on to their eyelids of little fuzz and wont let them go
I seperated it from the ones its own size and put it with a few week old chicks. I wanted to keep them all together but till i decide what needs done hopefully this works.

 

[Ducks4us]

My 4 or 5 day old chicks can sometimes pick at each other, do they have enough space? They could be doing it because of boredom. Is your heat lamp (do you have a lamp or some other type of heater)? If they do have a lamp is it clear or red? Red could calm them down, but 250 watt red bulbs can get very hot (be careful!) Try to distract them, give them some treats (don't over do it) For a distraction for my picking chicks i gave them some worms or oats.

Also being soo tiny and only a day or two old i think the oats are too big for them but i ground some up and put in some crumbled mealworms but like i said they are still tiny and sticking around the heat lamp for now. And its during this time that it wont leave them alone.

 

[realsis]

hi, I've heard of people taking their fingers and like the beak of a chicken give them a little "peck" with your finger when it displays the bad behavior. don't hurt it, just enough of a peck with your finger to let it know what it's doing is not going to be tolerated. this should work. after a few times it will get the point and stop doing those things. it will learn the big chicken (you) will peck it if it continues behaving badly.Ive done this myself before and it's worked for me. you should try it before the chick hurts someone. hope this helps let me know.

 

[RodNTN]

Quote:

Thank you for your advice... Everyone seems to be a comfortable temp , just got them last night. And its a red light.
They are pretty tiny still and in a container 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. It leaves the others alone briefly while eating,,, but once everyone settles down to sleep under the light it just wont give up. Im afraid it will hurt the others. Everyone else does tiny pecks at each other as they fall asleep but this one seems crazy. Obsessivly pecking and it hangs on to whatever it grabs and pulls them.
When i was picking them out at the feed store there was a little buff silkie dragging another by its wing and i said i dont want that one!! And im pretty sure she ended up giving me that one.
Im afraid it will hurt the others eyes as it grabs on to their eyelids of little fuzz and wont let them go

I seperated it from the ones its own size and put it with a few week old chicks. I wanted to keep them all together but till i decide what needs done hopefully this works.

Is your brooder big enough to separate the mean chick from the others with some wire? if so, just give it some heat, food, and water and make sure it can SEE the others just not peck them. You can probably actually even let it use the same heat lamp. it will probably out grow the 'pecking thing' eventually.

 

[RodNTN]

Just make sure the few week old chicks its staying with don't start bullying it.

 

[Ducks4us]

Just make sure the few week old chicks its staying with don't start bullying it.

Sorry i worded it wrong. They arent a few weeks old... I put a "few" One week old chicks with it
They arent much bigger and its was picking on them so bad i took it away from them too. Its definatly a bully!

 

[Ducks4us]

hi, I've heard of people taking their fingers and like the beak of a chicken give them a little "peck" with your finger when it displays the bad behavior. don't hurt it, just enough of a peck with your finger to let it know what it's doing is not going to be tolerated. this should work. after a few times it will get the point and stop doing those things. it will learn the big chicken (you) will peck it if it continues behaving badly.Ive done this myself before and it's worked for me. you should try it before the chick hurts someone. hope this helps let me know.

Okay thank u! I will try this for sure

 

[Ducks4us]

   Is your brooder big enough to separate the mean chick from the others with some wire? if so, just give it some heat, food, and water and make sure it can SEE the others just not peck them. You can probably actually even let it use the same heat lamp. it will probably out grow the 'pecking thing' eventually. 

Thank u. Yeah its big enough. I may try that.