Meat Chicks Pecking eachother

[D SCHWARTZ 26]

Hello,
This is my first time raising meat chicks and I'm having problems with them pecking eachother mostly around their oilers. What should I do? It's getting to the point where there are to many to separate them.
I have to leave the heat lamp on at night yet (I'm using a red bulb). And I've been letting them run out of feed at night so they aren't eating 24/7. Should I give them full feed all the time?
Any ideas are welcome, thanks in advance.

 

[Bluechick2u]

Hello,
This is my first time raising meat chicks and I'm having problems with them pecking eachother mostly around their oilers. What should I do? It's getting to the point where there are to many to separate them.
I have to leave the heat lamp on at night yet (I'm using a red bulb). And I've been letting them run out of feed at night so they aren't eating 24/7. Should I give them full feed all the time?
Any ideas are welcome, thanks in advance.

Sounds like an overcrowding or boredom issue, are you sure they have enough space?

 

[PD-Riverman]

How old are they---do they really need a heat lamp? I do not understand the statement---"It's getting to the point where there are to many to separate them."?

 

[D SCHWARTZ 26]

They are just over 2 weeks old. And I had been separating the ones that were getting pecked so they could heal then I am going to put them together as soon as they heal, but today when I was feeding I noticed maybe 10 that are starting to get pecked around their oilers (maybe more). And wont have room in my seperate pen for all the new pecked ones. I have 100 total in about a 4 foot by 8 foot pen.

 

[Bluechick2u]

I have noticed that if I have more than 20 in 1 pen, the pecking order gets too rough on the bottom ones. I have never tried 100 in 1 area, but I strongly suspect I would get dead chicks if I did. Sorry, I'm not an expert, and I haven't tried meat birds, but I can't imagine they'd be that different from other breeds.

 

[debid]

Sounds like overcrowded conditions are causing issues.

Here is a decent article on raising meat birds. Note that they recommend 1/2 sq ft per chick and increasing that as they grow:

www.extension.umn.edu/food/small-farms/livestock/poultry/small-flock-for-poultry-meat/#brooding-methods

 

[keesmom]

I agree, it sounds like they are overcrowded. That's a small space for that many. Where do you plan to move them as they grow larger?

 

[D SCHWARTZ 26]

I gave them more space in the chicken coop yesterday and as they het older they are going to be getting an outside run. Thanks for all your help, I hope this fixes the problem.