pecking

[Holdav]

how can you stop little chicks from pecking each other?

 

[lazy gardener]

How many chicks, how old are they, what is the temp in their brooder, under the heat source and at the opposite end of the brooder? Where are you brooding them, what are you using for a heat source, what are you feeding them? How big exactly is the brooder, and what is the breed of the chicks? Are they pulling feathers/down off each other? Any blood shed?

 

[chickens really]

how can you stop little chicks from pecking each other?

Picking in poultry can happen at any age....Are these Chicks just newly hatched?...If so, that will stop soon..All baby animals taste and put everything in their mouths.....Its how they learn....

If older Chicks?

Here are the main causes of picking in poultry ...

Too hot
Too crowded
Short of fresh air
Lack of protein in their feed or the coop is to brightly lit....

Vaseline if these are older Chicks works great on the picked areas because Chickens hate it...If any wounds use Blu-kote to hid any red areas....

Cheers!

 

[ColoRockies]

Ours peck at each other occasionally in the brooder but I guess it depends on what kind of pecking. Chickens naturally peck but from our experience there's the curiosity normal peck and there's the attack peck. Wouldn't be concerned unless it's the attacking

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ours peck at each other occasionally in the brooder but I guess it depends on what kind of pecking. Chickens naturally peck but from our experience there's the curiosity normal peck and there's the attack peck. Wouldn't be concerned unless it's the attacking

This. Some pecking is normal and natural. They may be curious, setting up the pecking order, or grooming each other. The more info you can give us about this the more likely we can help, but if it is not a vicious type of repeated pecking, if they are not picking off down or feathers, and there is no blood, it’s probably not a problem.

But it can be. I had a two week old chick kill its hatch mate. I don’t know why, it just decided to peck it until it killed it. They were hatched together, no integration or anything like that. They were with a broody out in the run so the brooder or heat was not a factor. Most pecking is not a big deal, it happens all the time. But it is a judgment call. If it looks vicious it could be dangerous.

If it looks dangerous, isolate the aggressor. One way in a brooder is to make a cage out of hardware cloth, sort of an open basket, and set that over the chick so it can’t attack another chick. Sometimes leaving it in there most of the day will alter that behavior. Sometimes.

 

[ColoRockies]

I guess raising chickens "correctly" is like anything else. It's takes experimentation, practice and experience. After all I've ever read... there is no one solution and basically general guidelines that may or may not apply to your situation. Just let time and common sense guide you