What am I doing wrong here?
I have 4 four week old leghorn chicks and 6 four week old blue andalusian chicks from the same hatch [we hatched them]. I posted before about my frustration about how high strung they are.
I went out today to watch them and try to see what is going on - someone mentioned maybe the leghorns are causing the andalusians to be spastic because they tend to be?
Well, I watched and observed and pulled each chick out and looked it over carefully and about 5 of them are getting picked at on their backs and bottoms to the point that they are bleeding. [This is new, I just checked them all over individually this past weekend and everyone was fine - no picking at all].
I thought at first it was the leghorns picking, because 2 of them seem very aggressive [maybe roos?], but I actually saw a couple of the andaulsians picking too - and one of the andalusians is VERY aggressive [he & one of the leghorns are the ones that keep charging me].
They are being kept in a large dog crate on the ground, inside the 6 foot chicken run [my 9 week old australorps and ameraucanas inhabit the rest of that run and the crate keeps the little ones separate].
I give them food and water twice a day - commercial medicated chick starter [they always have some left when I refill too, so they aren't eating everything I put in there]. A couple of times I've gone out and they've knocked their water over and seemed to be dying of thirst, so I'm going to get them a bigger, more stable waterer.
They don't seem overcrowded - it is a BIG crate - the same crate I had 17 australorps and ameraucanas in at this same age with no trouble at all until I moved them to larger quarters at 7 weeks....
What am I doing wrong? Why are these chickens eating each other? I've never seen anything like this with our other chickens ....
Also, how do I care for the injured chicks? Should I separate them? Should I put something on the open sores?
Kelly
I have 4 four week old leghorn chicks and 6 four week old blue andalusian chicks from the same hatch [we hatched them]. I posted before about my frustration about how high strung they are.
I went out today to watch them and try to see what is going on - someone mentioned maybe the leghorns are causing the andalusians to be spastic because they tend to be?
Well, I watched and observed and pulled each chick out and looked it over carefully and about 5 of them are getting picked at on their backs and bottoms to the point that they are bleeding. [This is new, I just checked them all over individually this past weekend and everyone was fine - no picking at all].
I thought at first it was the leghorns picking, because 2 of them seem very aggressive [maybe roos?], but I actually saw a couple of the andaulsians picking too - and one of the andalusians is VERY aggressive [he & one of the leghorns are the ones that keep charging me].
They are being kept in a large dog crate on the ground, inside the 6 foot chicken run [my 9 week old australorps and ameraucanas inhabit the rest of that run and the crate keeps the little ones separate].
I give them food and water twice a day - commercial medicated chick starter [they always have some left when I refill too, so they aren't eating everything I put in there]. A couple of times I've gone out and they've knocked their water over and seemed to be dying of thirst, so I'm going to get them a bigger, more stable waterer.
They don't seem overcrowded - it is a BIG crate - the same crate I had 17 australorps and ameraucanas in at this same age with no trouble at all until I moved them to larger quarters at 7 weeks....
What am I doing wrong? Why are these chickens eating each other? I've never seen anything like this with our other chickens ....
Also, how do I care for the injured chicks? Should I separate them? Should I put something on the open sores?
Kelly