Three week old buff Orpington was pecked until bleeding.

[Dee20porc]

Hi everyone I purchased six female chicks two and a half weeks ago. Two buff orpingtons, two Rhode Island reds, and two golden laced. I work from home and head some loud noises coming from the brooder. When I looked I saw all the chicks chasing and pecking a buffs tail and it was bloody. I removed her for a bit because I was still working and had to. Question is is this them trying to establish pecking order? Is this normal? I don’t see any signs of disease etc so I’m not sure. We ended up purchasing rooster booster lotion and that stopped the pecking.

 

[Yanisay]

Hi everyone I purchased six female chicks two and a half weeks ago. Two buff orpingtons, two Rhode Island reds, and two golden laced. I work from home and head some loud noises coming from the brooder. When I looked I saw all the chicks chasing and pecking a buffs tail and it was bloody. I removed her for a bit because I was still working and had to. Question is is this them trying to establish pecking order? Is this normal? I don’t see any signs of disease etc so I’m not sure. We ended up purchasing rooster booster lotion and that stopped the pecking.

hmmm…maybe they were trying to mate with her,even so isolate her from the rest and keep her somewhere with food and water,put the lotion on her injury,and wait until her injury fully heals then try to put her back with the rest of the flock,if they still pecked her just isolate her or sell her they might not get along.while she is isolated please buy the rest of the flock vitamin supplement with fresh feed and try giving them nutritious food because some chickens do that because of the lack of protein and vitamin,I will personally give them hard boiled egg(a really good source of protien).please don’t mix her back with the flock until she gets better.

 

[Dee20porc]

hmmm…maybe they were trying to mate with her,even so isolate her from the rest and keep her somewhere with food and water,put the lotion on her injury,and wait until her injury fully heals then try to put her back with the rest of the flock,if they still pecked her just isolate her or sell her they might not get along.while she is isolated please buy the rest of the flock vitamin supplement with fresh feed and try giving them nutritious food because some chickens do that because of the lack of protein and vitamin,I will personally give them hard boiled egg(a really good source of protien).please don’t mix her back with the flock until she gets better.

Thank you so. They were sold as all females but who knows. I appreciate all of the information so much!

 

[Yanisay]

Thank you so. They were sold as all females but who knows. I appreciate all of the information so much!

I hope it benefits you and your flock have a good day

 

[Yanisay]

I hope it benefits you and your flock have a good day

And since your chicks are very young it’s probably the lack of protein and not mating just remember to give them a vitamin supplement and hard boiled eggs with fresh feed(old feed is less nutritious)you can give them other food instead of boiled egg just researich

 

[aart]

At 3 weeks it's not mating.....nor even necessarily pecking order.

Could just be an opportunistic pecking at a pin feather that caused bleeding and then a free for all.

What does your brooder look like?
Dimensions and pics could help immensely here.
Could be they are beginning to feel crowded.

 

[Dee20porc]

This is the brooder. I took them out for supervised time outside when it was 72 degrees last week. (I live in Ny so it’s still chilly). I’m trying to do everything the right way, but learning as I go.

 

[Yanisay]

And since your chicks are very young it’s probably the lack of protein and not mating just remember to give them a vitamin supplement and hard boiled eggs with fresh feed(old feed is less nutritious)

At 3 weeks it's not mating.....nor even necessarily pecking order.

Could just be an opportunistic pecking at a pin feather that caused bleeding and then a free for all.

What does your brooder look like?
Dimensions and pics could help immensely here.
Could be they are beginning to feel crowded.

I am quite fimmiliar with this behavior,that usually happens when their feed is high on energy but low on protein,it is a big problem for lots of farmers who don’t have acces to high quality food,I had to deal with this last year too.basically the chicks try to find a source of protein by pecking their other friends,but yes sometimes it can just be normal behavior causing this,but young chicks usually don’t have the instinct to peck new birds in their flock,so that’s why the reason they do that is because of lack of protein,but I can’t take a picture of the coop since I’m not comfortable sharing pics with strangers sorry.