Update: Pecking Emergency

[NotTheMomma]

Quote:
YES!

As for not enough room, what's the game plan here? Can you put half of them outside then? The Cornish X, aren't those the meat birds? They really need to be separated from the others. They need restricted feeding as well, where the others need their food at all times.

Can you place an ad on craig'slist and try to get rid of them? Put an ad in the newspaper.

Definitely need to give them move room, and get those CornishX away from the rest.

 

[NotTheMomma]

And yes, remove that bright light. That could also be a problem.

Use a small nightlight if they need light and are warm enough. The Cornish X should be warm enough, but I wonder about the rest.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
YES!

As for not enough room, what's the game plan here? Can you put half of them outside then? The Cornish X, aren't those the meat birds? They really need to be separated from the others. They need restricted feeding as well, where the others need their food at all times.

Can you place an ad on craig'slist and try to get rid of them? Put an ad in the newspaper.

Definitely need to give them move room, and get those CornishX away from the rest.

The plan is to reduce the number asap, about 20 of the cornishX are at around 4 pounds live, I was going to process them within the week, and then another 20 should be able to be processed within another week at the rate they are going, and then the last of the cornish in 2-3 weeks from now.

I have been restricting feed at night, water all the time. The other birds in there, RIR's, etc, are also suppose to be for meat, but they are not the meat variety (cornish x) so I was planing to grow them out longer to be stewing type birds. Is it a problem to be removing there feed at night? They seem fine, esp the red ones, they are very zippy.

It sounds like it is a problem keeping the cornish together with the others. I'll just process them at the weight they are at if I have to before I get rid of them. I have a huge amount of money into these birds, feeding them whole grains, flax, etc, I'd never recover more than a few cents on a dollar. These are suppose to be the meat birds to feed our family for the next 6-12 months.

I will have to see if I can figure out any other space they can go into till they are at the weight I want them at.

Thanks for your help. My head is pounding with a migraine. Fortunatly the birds are all sleeping since I turned the lights off, so that buys me a little bit of time to figure some of this out and get the wounds treated.

I also have food / medical grade high potency iodine (5%). Would a drop of that work to clean the wound and to stain it a dark color so they won't peck? I'll gladly buy the blukote, but no one will be open till the am. I did find a bottle of the violet stuff, and will hopefully have enough in that bottle to treat the injuries.

thanks again
jamie

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
They have not been huddled up. When the heat lamp was last in there and on a couple days ago, there was no one grouped under it, just one or two birds here and there that would come sit under the red heat lamp.

I hope I was right to remove the lamp...

jamie

 

[lovelychicken]

good luck, thats a lot of birds, hope it all works out

 

[jamieneenah]

HI,

Thanks for the help last night, I am posting an update as to what happened. We cleaned up the injured birds and sprayed blu-kote on them, 14 birds. If we put them back into the main brooder, they still get pecked at by numerous other birds, even with the blu-kote on them.

So we now have them (injured birds) separated and they do not seem to be pecking at each other.

Do you think I will need to just give these birds several days in isolation to allow them to heal up? before I can move them back in with any other birds?

Thanks

Jamie

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
This is exactly right. They need time to heal & for the scabbing to become less visible. Glad to hear there's no picking in the injured group.

I've got a pullet that was injured by an adult last weekend: big hole on the side of her head from pecking. It's all scabbed over & the feathers hide it nicely now. I expect it'll be all healed in another few days.

 

[Stonerowfarm]

Once they open a wound you have to be so careful. On Tuesday I left in the morning and everyone was fine. When I came back in the afternoon the chicks (about 10-11 weeks old) had completely pecked the back end of one little hen. She wasn't the smallest by any stretch, just the one they decided to pick on Tuesday. I separated her, cleaned the wounds, bathed her to try to clean and keep the vent clean, etc. but unfortunately she passed this morning. There was just too much damage to the vent area. It's unfortunate as she was a sweet little girl. But it does show that these critters can be vicious to each other.

Good luck with your birds, hopefully separating them and allowing them to heal will do the trick until you can process.

 

[jamieneenah]

Thanks again for all the help in my moment of crisis. It is greatly appreciated.

All birds with wounds have been tended to and Blu-Kote has been applied, they are all doing well.

RE: Bird Separation. I build a new coop today, and moved all of the cornishx into there own coop. They do not seem to peck eachother at all. All my other birds kept pecking them, even with the blu-kote. I plan to keep the meat birds (cornishx) in isolation until there processing time. They have enough room in the new coop I built to be comfortable, and will be even more comfortable once the first batch gets processed.

Now my assorted birds, reds, comets (I think), etc, are all together in the large coop, tons of space for them!

Thanks to your prompt replies, we have no deaths and I belive all the wounds will heal without much trouble.

Thanks again for the quick help on this one!

Jamie