Separating chicks: eye-pecker

[newchickychick]

Oh boy. So we've got a bundle of new chicks. We've got 23 in the brooder we successfully raised 19 VERY happy chicks from last time. Other than typical pecking order tit-for-tats and the occasional karate kick, they really didn't fight much at all. And still don't!

Right now we've got a chick (suspected Gold Lace Polish) that is obsessed with pecking the other chicks' eyes. Needless to say, we constructed a little wall to separate him from the others. Should we go ahead and build a mini-brooder for him tomorrow that's specifically for 'timeout'?

I tried;
- Nudging the bully chick when he'd peck an eye. He didn't like it at all but it didn't seem to deter him even a little.
- Putting shiny stickers all over the brooder. The other chicks are going NUTS for them. They love pecking at them! But the eye-pecker pecked at one once and then went right back to poking eyes.
- And now separating him with another two chicks that he hasn't bothered (they have darker faces - the rest are very light so it's very easy to see their eyes. These chicks didn't pick on the other Polish either, so while they're not problem children at all I figured they'd be safest from his bullying)

They were shipped on the 30th and arrived today. So is it possible he's just ornery and upset from shipping stress?

How long do you keep problem chicks separated for before trying to reintegrate? He pecked one little Polish's eye really raw. I've since put Neosporin on it and the chick seems to be feeling much better. The others aren't picking on it either which is a relief. It's literally just the ONE chick that's being mean to everyone else. I'm at a loss! We didn't really have this issue with our first batch of chicks so I'm really concerned. Thanks ahead of time for all help and advice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may find this helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aggressive-baby-chicks-and-how-to-stop-the-behavior.72029/

 

[newchickychick]

You may find this helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aggressive-baby-chicks-and-how-to-stop-the-behavior.72029/

Thank you. I did give this a read! All the other chicks are very content but we’re planning on building a custom bigger brooder just in case.

There are shiny stickers all over the brooder that every single other chick became enamored with the moment I put them in. The problem baby took one peck at them then went right back to pecking at the others’ eyes. Every single chick we’ve got.

I had to stay up all night cycling in new chicks in with it so it wasn’t alone but it kept going after every one’s eyes. I would “peck” it with my finger every time and it seemed to dislike this, but hasn’t stopped for more than a minute at a time despite it being nearly 12 hours of this (outside of when it thankfully of course got a long sleep in). It even went after the all black chick’s eyes we’ve got, which I was so hoping could be a reliable companion that wasn’t as distracting for the chick since a lot of the others have light marks around their eyes.

I’m going to keep trying this once I get some sleep. I’m just not sure how long should usually solve the issue by if I’m correcting the behavior like that. If the other chicks weren’t so content and docile, I feel like I would know where to start with environmental factors, but it’s just not feeling like that’s the case here with all the others not pecking at each other. They even left the injured chick alone and its eye is already looking considerably better after some TLC.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Are you using a red bulb in your heat lamp?

 

[newchickychick]

Are you using a red bulb in your heat lamp?

Yeah. We did for our first batch too since I had read it can help mask the sight of blood in case of injury and prevent worse pecking. He goes after truly all the other chicks’ eyes. It just surprises me it’s a Polish of all the chicks. :[ I had heard they’re usually easy going chicks. The others (Polish and other breeds) are absolute angels. Certainly a peck here and there but never the eyes and never hard enough to make the others cry out.
We tried putting a plush chick with him in the separated area to try to keep him company while we sort this out. He immediately pecked at its eyes. He does not want to eat or drink away from his broodmates, so we’ve put him back to ensure he will eat and drink. We supervise and everything is good for all of 60 seconds then after he drinks and eats, he pecks an eye. There’s so many shiny little gem stick-ons the others are fascinated with. There’s a mirror toy. There’s plenty of room, and there’s little perches for enrichment. It just seems he’s fascinated with eyes and even bit on hard to one of the other’s beaks this last time and made the chick cry out and panic. It’s puzzling me.

Is this a “grin and bear it and keep trying” over the next week or two? Would it be bad to get some other chicks, new ones, to put with him separately? The only fear I have with that is he’s pecked the eyes of the Cackle Toppie chick too, who’s black with no light marks on its face so it isn’t even a matter of the markings making the eyes look extra shiny I don’t think. I want this little jerk to thrive and overcome this, but I feel like I’m missing something. Would extra vitamins help? They’ve all had access to fresh water and electrolyte water, but could a deficiency be making him cranky?

 

[newchickychick]

A cautiously positive update: he’s still a jerk, but the severity of it has gotten a little better with constant redirection and behavior correction. I stayed up with him all night working with him. He clearly WANTS to peck eyes but sees a finger lifted ready to “peck” and is starting to more frequently stop before he does. He’s determined, I’ll give him that! I think our first batch of chicks really spoiled me by being so healthy and easy-going. (Up until now that they’re in the big coop and the young roos are always jumping on each other. It’s never serious but the sudden squawk from across the yard as one brother WWE drops another will never cease to make me jump up)

Though his first victim, a little Splash Polish, is always screaming. Its eyes healed up really quickly and nicely but it HAS been this way since day 1. Hopefully just a loud-mouth. It’s eating great (full crop every day and empty every morning), drinking just fine, loves to play with the others and the brooder stickers, and they’re all well spread out over the brooder so temperature isn’t an issue either. Sleeps like a rock too so it has energy for its little chick zoomies. I guess this batch just wants to teach me more about being a chicken parent.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is this a “grin and bear it and keep trying” over the next week or two? Would it be bad to get some other chicks, new ones, to put with him separately? The only fear I have with that is he’s pecked the eyes of the Cackle Toppie chick too, who’s black with no light marks on its face so it isn’t even a matter of the markings making the eyes look extra shiny I don’t think. I want this little jerk to thrive and overcome this, but I feel like I’m missing something. Would extra vitamins help? They’ve all had access to fresh water and electrolyte water, but could a deficiency be making him cranky?

I'm glad it's improving some. He sounds like a jerk to me. Perhaps a bad egg...

No, I would not get more chicks to put with him, I think the behavior will continue with them. If it's getting better, give him a little longer if you can. Could be he grows out of it or could be a little stinker (I'm trying to be nice) all of his life, hopefully not.

 

[newchickychick]

I'm glad it's improving some. He sounds like a jerk to me. Perhaps a bad egg...

No, I would not get more chicks to put with him, I think the behavior will continue with them. If it's getting better, give him a little longer if you can. Could be he grows out of it or could be a little stinker (I'm trying to be nice) all of his life, hopefully not.

Yeah, we decided pretty quickly after I posted that to not get more to see if he would behave better and be less lonely. So far it’s been pretty good. He’s pecked a couple more times but it went from outright violent “I’m not letting go” to an almost curious little blip. Though it’s not been on the one he made bleed before, so I’m extra relieved about that, and the chicks haven’t seemed hurt by it this time. We still “peck” just to be sure we’re keeping the behavior as curbed as possible. The Wyandottes have been angels so far but one pecked him back finally. I think he’s getting the hint.

We’re definitely planning to be EXTREMELY picky about what roos we keep. Since our flock is mostly companionship with the side benefit of eggs, and we’re going a very large run instead of free-ranging, we want quite a lot of “fun” chickens, like Polish and Spitzhauben, etc. And the benefit of roos would be future babies, not really a strong necessity against predators as we plan to hopefully keep the coop and covered run completely safe. (We know even the best laid plans can go very wrong, but it’s our hope!) So we want the most gentlemanly roos only for our hens, and if he doesn’t grow out of it… out he goes (out of the frying pan and into the fire). Or if he is a she, she’d best learn to keep her act together. Or same scenario.

It was just so surprising as we’re still very new to chicken ownership. I’ve most certainly read about this, but it’s an entirely different thing to experience one so determined. The chick plushie wasn’t even spared its eye-pecking wrath.

I’m glad to have the resources though to know how to handle this if it happens with future chicks. He was so unresponsive at first to redirection that I was in a tizzy hoping there was some magic time frame it would hopefully click by. We had just lost the runt chick as a failure to thrive and I was hoping to not fail this little one by not figuring out how to, well, drill it through its skull that pecking like that is not okay. Today went very well so here’s hoping it was a temper tantrum that came and will pass.

The little Polish he’d hurt is completely better today too! The redness is barely pink now and it’s no longer cheeping loudly all the time. I think it’s just a loud mouth regardless, as when it is “hey look at what I found” chirps it’s twice as loud as the other chicks, and when it gets the zoomies it chirps happily (and yes, still loudly), but I’m sure its poor eyes were sore too. The neosporin really did the trick as did gently keeping some wet soft cloths on them to help with the swelling. Really appreciate having this forum so I can quickly find tips and tricks and advice. This batch is full of oddballs, but hoping they will turn out great like the older babies!

 

[Debbie292d]

Yeah, we decided pretty quickly after I posted that to not get more to see if he would behave better and be less lonely. So far it’s been pretty good. He’s pecked a couple more times but it went from outright violent “I’m not letting go” to an almost curious little blip. Though it’s not been on the one he made bleed before, so I’m extra relieved about that, and the chicks haven’t seemed hurt by it this time. We still “peck” just to be sure we’re keeping the behavior as curbed as possible. The Wyandottes have been angels so far but one pecked him back finally. I think he’s getting the hint.

We’re definitely planning to be EXTREMELY picky about what roos we keep. Since our flock is mostly companionship with the side benefit of eggs, and we’re going a very large run instead of free-ranging, we want quite a lot of “fun” chickens, like Polish and Spitzhauben, etc. And the benefit of roos would be future babies, not really a strong necessity against predators as we plan to hopefully keep the coop and covered run completely safe. (We know even the best laid plans can go very wrong, but it’s our hope!) So we want the most gentlemanly roos only for our hens, and if he doesn’t grow out of it… out he goes (out of the frying pan and into the fire). Or if he is a she, she’d best learn to keep her act together. Or same scenario.

It was just so surprising as we’re still very new to chicken ownership. I’ve most certainly read about this, but it’s an entirely different thing to experience one so determined. The chick plushie wasn’t even spared its eye-pecking wrath.

I’m glad to have the resources though to know how to handle this if it happens with future chicks. He was so unresponsive at first to redirection that I was in a tizzy hoping there was some magic time frame it would hopefully click by. We had just lost the runt chick as a failure to thrive and I was hoping to not fail this little one by not figuring out how to, well, drill it through its skull that pecking like that is not okay. Today went very well so here’s hoping it was a temper tantrum that came and will pass.

The little Polish he’d hurt is completely better today too! The redness is barely pink now and it’s no longer cheeping loudly all the time. I think it’s just a loud mouth regardless, as when it is “hey look at what I found” chirps it’s twice as loud as the other chicks, and when it gets the zoomies it chirps happily (and yes, still loudly), but I’m sure its poor eyes were sore too. The neosporin really did the trick as did gently keeping some wet soft cloths on them to help with the swelling. Really appreciate having this forum so I can quickly find tips and tricks and advice. This batch is full of oddballs, but hoping they will turn out great like the older babies!

Just so you feel better about not having the only jerk chick, I had a toe biter a couple of years ago. He would bite and pull them by the toe, knocking them over.

I had read that article Wyorp posted, and did the flicking thing for half an hour, come back later, he'd be up to it again. I separated him, let him cry himself to sleep for a day. Put him back in and he wasn't quite as mean.

I then put Poultry Cell in their water for a day, plain water for a day, Poultry Cell again. Coincidence maybe, but that stopped him entirely. Perhaps they need a little more protein and they think fresh meat is going to sate them. Who knows. Good thing it's a temporary stressor we have to deal with!

 

[newchickychick]

Just so you feel better about not having the only jerk chick, I had a toe biter a couple of years ago. He would bite and pull them by the toe, knocking them over.

I had read that article Wyorp posted, and did the flicking thing for half an hour, come back later, he'd be up to it again. I separated him, let him cry himself to sleep for a day. Put him back in and he wasn't quite as mean.

I then put Poultry Cell in their water for a day, plain water for a day, Poultry Cell again. Coincidence maybe, but that stopped him entirely. Perhaps they need a little more protein and they think fresh meat is going to sate them. Who knows. Good thing it's a temporary stressor we have to deal with!

I’ve been alternating with electrolytes (can’t recall what brand off the top of my head - I think Hydrohen?) and I’ve been wondering what’s great with adding more. I kept forgetting about Poultry Cell. I’ll buy some right now!

That really helps a lot. I kept worrying I was failing him as I definitely felt like I failed the tiny one that passed. We had one in our last batch too, but 19/20 survived then and so far this one is still 22/23. I would love to have everything on hand in case of emergency so I’ll definitely order some now.

Chicks are so strange! Maybe it thought toes were… worms? I’ll never fully understand them, but man I love chicks.