Got my hatchery chicks in the mail last week. One had a little pasty butt I treated on two occasions, and made sure his bum was dry before returning him to the brooder. That evening, I heard some distressed squawking going on downstairs, and went to check it out.
I found one of the chicks had started vent pecking the one I was treating for pasty butt. His vent was bloody and inflamed, so the pecking had been pretty persistent over the past four hours.
I quickly salved his vent and placed him in another brood box under a heat lamp reserved for the new batch of chicks I have arriving tomorrow.
ACV was added to the water as suggested by BYC users. So far, so good. But then, the offending vent pecker was observed assaulting the vents of his other mates! So I swapped the offending vent pecker with the distressed victim, hoping that this is my only offender and to nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger problem.
These are one week old chicks I'm dealing with. And I have more coming in the mail tomorrow. I really don't have any more room or heat lamps to quarantine any injured or offending birds. Any ideas on how to stop vent pecking in its tracks? I assumed it only became a new habit for the offender after he drew blood on the victim and that removing the victim until the redness went away would be the best course of action. I couldn't have him making more red vents among his mates, so I have the victim in the original brooder where nobody else seems interested in butt pecking. I originally wanted to keep the victim in the brooder with the new chicks for a while while he recouped, but now I need a place for the offender as well.
Please help!
P.S> they have grass clippings and other things of interest to play with in the brooder.
I found one of the chicks had started vent pecking the one I was treating for pasty butt. His vent was bloody and inflamed, so the pecking had been pretty persistent over the past four hours.
I quickly salved his vent and placed him in another brood box under a heat lamp reserved for the new batch of chicks I have arriving tomorrow.
ACV was added to the water as suggested by BYC users. So far, so good. But then, the offending vent pecker was observed assaulting the vents of his other mates! So I swapped the offending vent pecker with the distressed victim, hoping that this is my only offender and to nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger problem.
These are one week old chicks I'm dealing with. And I have more coming in the mail tomorrow. I really don't have any more room or heat lamps to quarantine any injured or offending birds. Any ideas on how to stop vent pecking in its tracks? I assumed it only became a new habit for the offender after he drew blood on the victim and that removing the victim until the redness went away would be the best course of action. I couldn't have him making more red vents among his mates, so I have the victim in the original brooder where nobody else seems interested in butt pecking. I originally wanted to keep the victim in the brooder with the new chicks for a while while he recouped, but now I need a place for the offender as well.
Please help!
P.S> they have grass clippings and other things of interest to play with in the brooder.