new chick is relentless on toes!

[chkinut]

what the heck do you do when you have one chick that treats the other chicks toes as if they're worms?? this chick is relentless most of the time.....should i put her in a separate box? the other chicks are kinda doing it, but this one chick is really bad!

 

[bigstack]

Wow, I really don't know. Maybe paint them with a edible ink. like kids use on cookies. It won't hurt them and it will wear off in a lil time. Maybe last long enough for the chick to lose intrest. I'd paint them all black except the trouble chick! LOL Payback!!! hahaha Honestly, I wish I had a better idea.

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[chicmom]

Hmm.....what do you have as flooring in the brooder? Maybe the chick needs something to peck at, to distract it from the other's toes! LOL Do you have pine shavings in there? They seem to like that.

 

[esthermgr]

I've heard that a red heat lamp bulb will settle down overactive pecking behavior. If you haven't got one already, you could try that.

 

[chkinut]

i do have a red heat lamp. and i'm using paper towels for a floor.....i HAVE pine shavings....should i put them on it? won't they eat it?

 

[bigstack]

How old are the chicks and how big are the shavings. I use the big white bag of shavings from TSC $4 and is Huge! The chips are BIG shavings. They worked Great for me!!!

Added: I put my chicks on them after 24 hrs on paper towels.
No Probs!
Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[wisewings]

I had one chick that would not stop pecking the others eyes, so I put it in "chicki prison" or maybe" time out" is a better term. Anyway, I left it in the same brooder, but put a wired cage/basket thing over it. I only put her in it for like 5 or 10 minutes at a time, but I did it a few times, and within the same day, she got the message and never pecked again. She could see everyone else, and they could see her, but she couldn't get to them. Something about removing her yet keeping her within the same enclosure workd for me. Hope it helps. They seem to stop all the wierd pecking by about 2 weeks of age, then they go on to bigger things, like chest bumping, stare downs, and leap frog. They are just looking for things to do, eat, etc. It won't be long and you can put real meal worms in there and then the fun really begins. Good luck!

 

[chkinut]

well, i put them on the pine shavings....the shavings are small and large....and it worked! so that's great! i have 2 brooders (one upstairs, which is the main brooder and it's pretty big....and one downstairs which is a HUGE rubbermaid tub). well, i introduced my 2 week old silkies to the new girls yesterday in the downstairs brooder....the silkies kinda freaked out a bit....but it went well and they were all getting along. well then i transported them upstairs after i got off work (i run a daycare) and one of the silkies then decided be was gonna be a butt! he stood up real tall and looked at the girls and KA-BAM!! he would just peck who ever was in his line of vision. so i TOO had a chickie-prison and i put him in it! i'm not gonna put them together again till i can watch them all carefully up there....which will be later this afternoon.

 

[Shifty Joe]

I had a similar experience as WiseWings, the little chick was determined to grab the other chicks by the eye and drag them around the brood. For me, I just happened to have another brooder filled with fatties (cornish crosses) to which this chick was exiled to. After two days the chick decided the fatties were poor conversationalists and was very happy to get back with his brood.

So just pull him\\her our for a bit and they will mellow within days.