Mean chick! What breed? What to do?

[Noy]

Hi all!
This little baby is terrorizing the others- even those who are 2-3 weeks older than her.
She's starting to hurt my light colored ones- pecking at their eyes and not letting go!
What can I do to protect them?
Would you rehome her?

And what breed is she- i got a few but only one partridge plymouth rock so that's my guess.

 

[debid]

It's so strange you say this because I have an EE chick that was obsessed with tugging at the lower eyelids of one of the sexlinks. No clue why, I haven't seen this before, but the one she hassled was older by a week and just allowed it!

I took it as boredom and opened the pop door a couple days earlier than planned to give them more to do than the little coop could offer. That halted the behavior temporarily. She did it one more time once all the weeds were gone in the run. That time, she drew blood. I removed the injured chick for the day but returned her at dusk, all cleaned up. I then started giving them a little range time with the adults. She hasn't done it since, hoping she outgrew the behavior.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sounds like curiosity pecking.

That is the right color chick for partridge.. but it looks fluffy cheeked like an EE. Can't say for sure without seeing legs and comb.

Maybe switching to a red light will help... or I like to use non light emitting heaters for night time... fully sleeping helps with some behaviors, especially boredom.

 

[danceswithronin]

I think she will grow out of it, I had one that did the same thing with vent/tail picking. For me adding enrichment items to peck at, increasing brooder space, and disciplining the chick whenever I caught her by poking her between the shoulderblades helped. It went on for about half a week and then just abruptly stopped.

To give them something else to peck at, I drew red dots on the interior of the brooder walls at eye height, put in dried chopped strawberries and small bits of dark greens for them to play with, and live small crickets/mealworms that hid in the bedding and gave them something to hunt.

Tossing in handfuls of fresh weeds every day gives them something to scratch at and play in too. Just be sure to include some chick grit and remove the old weeds every other day or so. Some breeds just have a very strong foraging instinct that gets frustrated in cramped brooders with little to do but mess with other chicks.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

To give them something else to peck at, I drew red dots on the interior of the brooder walls at eye height,

We do this as well... noting it isn't just red they peck at. But anything that stands out... probably the light colored chicks have dark eyes.. looking like little bugs.

We make whole scenes (farm yards, flowers, whatever) made out of different colored polka dots... the chicks wake up in the morning and go to work building stuff (it sounds like).

 

[Noy]

That makes a lot of sense.
But they are only 3 days old!
Hatched Monday, arrived yesterday morning.

What is up with this chick

 

[debid]

We do this as well... noting it isn't just red they peck at. But anything that stands out... probably the light colored chicks have dark eyes.. looking like little bugs.

We make whole scenes (farm yards, flowers, whatever) made out of different colored polka dots... the chicks wake up in the morning and go to work building stuff (it sounds like).

I wondered about that, too. The hassled chicken has light dots at the center of the lower lids. That may look like something appealing to peck.

FWIW, mine were brooded with a MHP so they sleep all night. It definitely wasn't a tired thing but strong foraging instinct sounds spot on.

 

[debid]

That makes a lot of sense.
But they are only 3 days old!
Hatched Monday, arrived yesterday morning.

What is up with this chick

That's how old mine was. I gave them run access day 6 when I'd usually wait until day 10.

 

[danceswithronin]

That makes a lot of sense.
But they are only 3 days old!
Hatched Monday, arrived yesterday morning.

What is up with this chick

That was the same age I was having issues with mine, it resolved itself by the time they started their second week.

 

[chickens really]

Normal behaviour in some..