Three-week chick pecked bloody

[tharedhead]

I have seven chicks in a sizable brooder. Yesterday my daughter found one with a bloody back. I think it’s possibly too early for pecking order and thought maybe this one had its pin feathers plucked and the other chicks went crazy when they saw the blood.
It didn’t appear to be just one as they were all interested in the blood.
I cleaned the wound (and put pain relief-free antibiotic) and tried to separate them last night, but the poor chick was in distress at being isolated. Since it was late, I shut the lights decided to let her sleep there, but don’t want the chicks to develop a taste for this.
i was going to set her up this morning with a separate lamp in another brooder.
i feel bad she’s alone and still think she should be next to the other brooder, so she can more easily be reintroduced. Or should she be out of sight? The ambient temperature will be around 60 in the house. I have to leave this morning for a couple hours, so they will be unattended.

In the main brooder: i have a treat in there, I thought I’d pull out. I heard adding a minute amount of mineral salt to their water would help. They have plenty of space to bathe. They have a heat tray they rest under to keep warm and all their feathers are really coming in nicely (I really don’t want to use the heat lamp in the smaller medical brooder, but it’s expected to be 67 degrees outside today). I think they have enough space for the seven of them ~8sq ft.
Not sure it’s relevant, but this chicken has kind of a raspy peep and always has, I was worried she was sick, but she behaves normally otherwise.

the injury site this morning is dried and improved substantially.

thoughts and ideas appreciated!

thanks.

 

[azygous]

Forget adding anything to their water. Things you see on the internet can sometimes kill chickens instead of helping them. This happened recently to a friend of mine in India who took the wrong advice and is now mourning the loss of her beloved rooster.

Your chick is a victim of a very common chick issue. It can be resolved by observing very closely the behavior of the chicks in your brooder, identify the aggressive chick (usually just one), and then selectively disciplining the little instigator. Read this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aggressive-baby-chicks-and-how-to-stop-the-behavior.72029/

Buy some Blu-kote or Blue Lotion at your feed store. Using a Q-tip, dip it into the purple solution and paint it on the chick's wound. This will treat the wound while camouflaging it so the chicks will leave it alone. You can safely return this chick to its mates.

Your chicks are old enough not to need heat during the day, and they can go outside to play in your run when the weather is in the 70s or high 60s and no wind is blowing. When you return them to their brooder, be sure they have at least a square foot of brooder space for each chick. Crowding is very dangerous, and it encourages aggression.

 

[tharedhead]

Thanks for your suggestion for the blue kote. It seems like many of the chicks were participating in the back pecking. It was hard to tell a single culprit from the rest

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

I had something similar, but worse happen to one of my chicks and I just separated her for a few days with one other chick and put some veterciyn on her and she got better.

 

[tharedhead]

Forget adding anything to their water. Things you see on the internet can sometimes kill chickens instead of helping them. This happened recently to a friend of mine in India who took the wrong advice and is now mourning the loss of her beloved rooster.

Your chick is a victim of a very common chick issue. It can be resolved by observing very closely the behavior of the chicks in your brooder, identify the aggressive chick (usually just one), and then selectively disciplining the little instigator. Read this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aggressive-baby-chicks-and-how-to-stop-the-behavior.72029/

Buy some Blu-kote or Blue Lotion at your feed store. Using a Q-tip, dip it into the purple solution and paint it on the chick's wound. This will treat the wound while camouflaging it so the chicks will leave it alone. You can safely return this chick to its mates.

Your chicks are old enough not to need heat during the day, and they can go outside to play in your run when the weather is in the 70s or high 60s and no wind is blowing. When you return them to their brooder, be sure they have at least a square foot of brooder space for each chick. Crowding is very dangerous, and it encourages aggression.

What do some folks urge people to avoid Blue Kote?
do you think I can leave them together, since the blood is dried before I get additional supplies or should I separate them? Do you think the ambient temp in the house is ok without heat if separated?

 

[tharedhead]

I had something similar, but worse happen to one of my chicks and I just separated her for a few days with one other chick and put some veterciyn on her and she got better.

I have to go buy that!! Thanks! Did you have blood or just plucked feathers?

 

[azygous]

I've had bloody wounds. A common place chicks peck is the vents. That can get raw and bloody very quickly. The Blu-kote fixes it right up. The tips on how to distract chicks in the brooder work very well. Read my article and you'll see there are lots of things you can try.

 

[tharedhead]

I've had bloody wounds. A common place chicks peck is the vents. That can get raw and bloody very quickly. The Blu-kote fixes it right up. The tips on how to distract chicks in the brooder work very well. Read my article and you'll see there are lots of things you can try.

I actually had just found your article. Thanks

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

What do some folks urge people to avoid Blue Kote?
do you think I can leave them together, since the blood is dried before I get additional supplies or should I separate them? Do you think the ambient temp in the house is ok without heat if separated?

I have to go buy that!! Thanks! Did you have blood or just plucked feathers?

Blood and pecked

 

[azygous]

Some people avoid Blu-kote for the reason it is not appropriate for large open wounds that require a lot of new tissue growth to cover the wound. Blu-kote tends to dry out a wound, but this is not an issue for small wounds that will heal in a day or two. Large wounds require a dressing that keeps the wound moist to encourage tissue growth.