My baby chicken is displaying cannibalistic tendencies

[Lillith37]

Mine strongly prefer Purina all flock. Literally they ignored other brands.

I hope it works quickly for your legbar. Chick starter/grower is another option for higher protein feed.

Mine get a mix of grower & layer with the oyster shell on the side, when I have only adult birds, so that they get a better balance of protein. When we have broody hens and chicks, everyone gets the 22% chick crumbles and they all prefer it.

The only downside to a higher protein feed I think is if older birds have troubles with their heart or if they develop gout.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Mine get a mix of grower & layer with the oyster shell on the side, when I have only adult birds, so that they get a better balance of protein. When we have broody hens and chicks, everyone gets the 22% chick crumbles and they all prefer it.

The only downside to a higher protein feed I think is if older birds have troubles with their heart or if they develop gout.

That can happen.

I have fed 20% for nearly a decade and have not seen any issues in my flock comprised of both dual purpose and high production breeds.

 

[Atlas The Chicken Tender]

Try putting them on a higher protein feed like grower or All Flock.
We have a girl that used to do the exact same thing, likely out of boredom but perhaps due to the low protein feed. We started letting them free-range in the afternoons (hawk problems here), and she isn’t as bad now.

Will do, we are looking into better (but still economical) feeds that we can find around us. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Atlas The Chicken Tender]

Some people try pinless peepers as well to discourage pecking.

If the diet change doesn't work, we'll give that a try. Get her some silly little chicken goggles!

 

[K0k0shka]

16% is a bare minimum for laying hens; growing youngsters need more. So for a growing bird this is quite insufficient. I join the others recommending you up the protein. I feed a 20% flock raiser to the whole flock - growing chicks/pullets, laying hens, retired hens etc. with crushed eggshell on the side for whoever needs it.

 

[Atlas The Chicken Tender]

As it says on the tin, but here are more details regarding the issue.
So I got 5 baby birds (now around 16 weeks old) from a fairly reputable breeder a few months ago to go along with my three other adult birds. Everything was relatively normal as far as flock integration goes. The babies were quarantined and though they spent some time in a large breed dog cage, they were frequently let out into a larger enclosure on the daily.
This baby bird, a cream legbar, was different from the others from the get-go. She was far more bold than the other babies, accepting treats from our hands within two days of coming home. Whether in the cage or in the larger enclosure, she didn't care about being with her flockmates. She still doesn't. The only interaction she really initiates with the other birds is pecking at their tails, which actually ended up killing one of our original babies. When this happened, we separated her from the other birds until they could get some feathers on their butts.
That was around a month ago. We let her out for the first time to see how she would interact with the other birds, and it was going so well at first! Unfortunately, that was very short lived, and she was right back to pecking at her flockmates' tails even with full feathering. My husband and I have separated her again until we figure out how to get this behavior to stop. We've tried Peck-no-more goo, we've tried giving her more space, not much has really worked. Our next step is changing her feed, but if that doesn't work, what else can we try? We really don't want to have to kill her.

Update as of 11-17-23: We had to move this bird to true solitary confinement with no possibility of interacting with her flockmates because she was pulling at her flockmates' feathers through the bars and showing no signs of improvement. Not only this, but one of our other babies has started displaying the same behavior. We separated both of them from the other birds for everyone's safety. The first bird, Millie, will not eat much from her dry food, both the 20% feed and scratch grains/worms, and even with hand feeding, she's more focused on the hands than the food. Seriously, she's been looking for vulnerable points in my skin and tried to twist some off every time we feed her. The second bird, Pepper, has only just begun this behavior, and she's still extremely food motivated. We're going to start giving electrolytes in their water just to be absolutely sure it isn't a nutritional deficiency, but can anyone recommend some good pinless peepers to use on juvenile birds? Is this really the last resort before having to cull?

 

[NatJ]

The first bird, Millie, will not eat much from her dry food, both the 20% feed and scratch grains/worms, and even with hand feeding, she's more focused on the hands than the food.

I would completely stop the scratch grains.
Scratch grains are low in protein. If you think she might need more protein, you really want to avoid anything low-protein.

I would try a dish of wet mash made with the 20% protein food: just put a bit in a dish, and add water. Most chickens like it better that way.

If the "worms" are mealworms, I would stop them for now too. They are quite high in fat, and are not nutritionally balanced. So for a chicken that might have a nutritional imbalance, leave them out and see if anything changes.

Seriously, she's been looking for vulnerable points in my skin and tried to twist some off every time we feed her. The second bird, Pepper, has only just begun this behavior, and she's still extremely food motivated.

That is definitely odd, and I don't know what might be going on here.

As a practical matter, I would completely stop any hand-feeding. Depending on how bad it is, I might consider re-filling feed and water dishes while wearing gloves, or doing it during the night. (I have no tolerance for being hurt by my pets, but I am sometimes willing to change things a bit and see if that changes their habits.)

I would have suggested a change in food (in case there was a problem with one bag of food), but you have already tried that.

We're going to start giving electrolytes in their water just to be absolutely sure it isn't a nutritional deficiency

If you put electrolytes in the water, make sure they also have a source of plain water.

They should not need electrolytes if they are eating a complete chicken food and drinking plain water-- the same things that are in any electrolyte mixture are also found in their food.

But letting them have a choice (plain water AND water with electrolytes) should be safe enough, because chickens are usually pretty good at choosing the better option in cases like that ("better" being the thing that more closely meets their own personal needs.)

but can anyone recommend some good pinless peepers to use on juvenile birds? Is this really the last resort before having to cull?

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to those questions.

This baby bird, a cream legbar, was different from the others from the get-go. She was far more bold than the other babies, accepting treats from our hands within two days of coming home. Whether in the cage or in the larger enclosure, she didn't care about being with her flockmates. She still doesn't. The only interaction she really initiates with the other birds is pecking at their tails...

Are you sure "she" is really a female? Some of those traits seem more common in male chicks (especially boldness and accepting treats from a human hand.)

It is unusual for a male or a female to pick at tail feathers that much, and it is a problem either way, but if the gender is wrong it may make a difference in how you deal with the matter. (For example, you might be more inclined to kill a male or try peepers on a female.)

 

[RcoM]

I look forward to hearing good news soon!

 

[SmiYa0126]

I would give them some cooked meat, beef if possible, it's nutrient dense.