Pecking at the eyes

[Ridersutton]

I rigged up a little gate thing. As long as the brown chick stays out of range, the yellow one cannot peck at him any more. Perhaps it is a boy thing... They can still see each other, and the yellow chick is still doing it's best to get at the brown, but it seems that I am keeping them at bay... Any more suggestions that might get the one to stop hurting the other?

 

[scratch'n'peck]

At just a few days old it does seem like the male hormones shouldn't be causing this, but who knows. I am hoping that with that separation rigged up, the cue to peck at each other will decrease. I guess we need to invent some chick goggles to protect the eyes

 

[Ridersutton]

Little chick goggles and boots!

The yellow chick is not happy about the gate, but the brown one is doing much better from the looks of things

 

[MrandMrsDavis]

We had the same issue with one of our chicks (out of the 27). We put him in solitary confinement in a box that had cut outs in it. he could see the other chicks and they could see him. We brought him out several times a day to test him and do correction if he did peck. It took 3 days for him to figure it out. His name is Bruno, and he's doing fine now - though still too young to tell if he's a roo or not.

 

[Ridersutton]

I just removed the gate thing that I had rigged up as I was cleaning their brooder box. They seem to be doing much better now and the one does not seem to be pecking the other one too much, just a bit here and there. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[janelle18]

I am a little late of this thread, do you have an update on your peaking chick Ridersutton? I have a BIG problem with my new chicks and peaking, I had to isolate 5 of them, just to allow the other chicks a chance to sleep and eat in peace. Several already have damaged eyes that they can hardly open

 

[Ridersutton]

I am so sorry I did not see this sooner. My chick that was pecking the other one did turn out to be a rooster. Also, but blocking him with a piece of cage from my other chick (hen) while I wasn't around and knocking him (GENTLY!) down whenever he tried to peck her, he learned to stop pecking in a few weeks. I'm sorry this is such a late reply, but maybe it will help some others...

 

[amberconvery626]

I know this is REALLY late, but I presume you guys might hatch again and so this may help for next time

I haven't experienced pecking issues myself with my chicks (touch wood!) but I know what might cause it. I have heard that if you use a normal light, you know the white ones, it can cause them to become overactive and aggressive towards each other (especially eye pecking) and can even sometimes cause cannabilism in the chicks!

If you were using a white light this may have been the issue. As I said, I have no first hand experience about it but did some research on it when seeing what kinds of lights to use in my brooder.. You can replace the white light with a 75 watt infrared light which works just as good and actually calms down the chicks

For mine, I use a white light from about 9AM until 6PM and then it's bed time for the babies and their infrared gets put in. They calm down a LOT the second I turn it on