Welsummers & Speckled Sussex Chicks Getting Pecked

[Katie4098]

Some back story- I had 29 2 week old chicks all together, and a few nights ago decided to separate them by putting 20 in a larger enclosure. The bigger space seemed to set something off in them- they started chest bumping and flying around. They did finally settle down though and go to sleep.

A couple nights after (last night), I noticed a chick with a red, nearly bare spot right above her tail feathers. The others were pecking at it. I separated her and applied Blu-Kote, and she slept by herself in a box overnight. This morning my husband woke me up saying he saw more bloodied chicks. I discovered 5 more with pecked tails, necks, and one with a pecked back. The pecked chicks all appear to be Welsummers and Speckled Sussexes, and the principal peckers are either Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers.

I tried putting the injured chick from last night in with my faverolles and Orpingtons of the same age, but they also started pecking where I applied the Blu-Kote, so I put her back in the box. I have all 6 of the injured chicks in 2 boxes, where it's dark so they will hopefully not peck each other.

What can I do to discourage this pecking? These chicks are merciless! I read on an older thread where someone suggested putting a toilet paper roll with dots drawn on it in the brooder, which I did, but they haven't shown interest yet. Should I just remove all the Welsummers and Sussexes to their own enclosure? I also worry about them pecking each other, though, since they are nearly all injured now.

 

[Katie4098]

I want to add that there is no light in their enclosure, so that's not a factor in the pecking.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of brooder set up? How big is it overall? Is there anything in there for them to do?

Are they able to see to eat and drink with no lights? Kind of confused on that.

 

[Katie4098]

I can't take a pic right now, but it is a large kiddie pool, maybe 6 ft across, surrounded by several trifold presenter boards clipped together. They have a lot of space now, probably 3 times as much as their last enclosure. The room has plenty of natural light, I just meant there's no heat lamp in there to cause pecking. They have a large stick in there, and I just put two toilet paper tubes in, but they aren't interested in them. The pecking has gotten worse of the chicks remaining in- my plan as of now is to Blu-Kote the injured chicks and return them, because I don't have 10 different enclosures to put them all in! They were all getting along fine until I moved them, so I'm sure the larger space is contributing, but their former space really was getting too small.

The 9 chicks I left in the smaller enclosure are still getting along fine, and I haven't noticed any pecking. They are different breeds, though- buff orpingtons and salmon faverolles.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Might be hard to do, but some cardboard or scrap hardware cloth could do the trick...

Can you separate the ones in the kiddie pool into 2 groups - the picked on chicks on one side and the rest on the other, and have them grow up side by side but without access to one another. Means you'll need an extra feeder and waterer but at least this way they can still be in the same brooding area. Perhaps some time apart, at least until they move outside, will help break the cycle, or at least let the picked on birds heal up.

 

[Katie4098]

I will check on them in the morning and see how everyone is doing. I was planning to move some tonight, but they were all sleeping together peacefully. Unfortunately it appears that now they are all pecking at everyone, not just the Welsummers and Sussexes anymore. Even the larger chicks had pecked spots late this afternoon. I'm hoping the Blu-Kote will help discourage it. At this point everyone will have some Blu-Kote on them somewhere. I also read somewhere about applying vapor-rub to the pecked spots as it would discourage the pecking, but I'll have to research that some more.

It was the weirdest thing- they went from all getting along fine to pecking one another like crazy. Their other same-aged peers left in the original enclosure still aren't pecking at all. I will probably try to add some more distractions in their enclosure tomorrow too and see if that helps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you post photos of your enclosure? Really strange that giving them more space would cause worsening behavior. Also what are you feeding them right now? A link to the product or a clear photo of nutrition tag would be helpful.