Three week old chick with neck injuries

[sportymom]

We are a week into our chicken keeping adventure and it has been enjoyable thus far. I am suprised how attached I am to these chicks already. We got four two and half week old chicks from a friend of ours who had some extra after ordering for himself. They all looked fine we picked them up and for the first 2 days we had them at home; then I found one with a gash in her neck with some dead skin still attached. I don't know if it's related but she also had a big hunk of dried poop on her bottom. I figured she was being picked on so I cleaned her up the best I could and separated her to let her heal. When my son checked on her this morning there were blood spatters all over the box she was in and she had a cut on her chin as well as more damage to her neck so she must be doing it to herself. Maybe she is scratching herself? Is there anything we can do to minimize the damage? Can you cut a chicks claws? The other chicks look fine - no injuries or missing feathers. Thanks for any insight.

 

[Judy]

Yes you can trim just the tips of the claws. There is a vein going partway down. I would look for lice/mites and probably dust with Sevin or poultry dust just in case. If this helps I would dust the others. Remove cedar bedding if you happen to be using it.