What do I do? Really stuck, please help!

[Hatcher1997]

Do you have pictures? What diet are the chicks on? My best advice would be to give one away or to get more. Is it too hot for the chicks? Do you think the chick is sick? Are they getting a dust bath? How old are they? Is it pecking order or is it bullying? Did you get them from a breeder? Is the behavior more like a rooster? Do you know what the chick's breed might be, what are his colors?

Yes I’ll upload some to the thread, I’ve explained below why one’s currently in a smaller box for now because I’ve had to separate them both, one prefers the glow over the lamp so I’ve given them the ones they prefer. They’re currently both on chick crumb. They’re both eating and drinking so I don’t know, the one I’ve put in a smaller box is just pecking the mirror and just crying like it’s lonely and wants to get out, but the other one full on bullies it, steals it’s food out it’s mouth, pecks it’s eyes over and over again even whilst it’s head is down and asleep, it’s feathers, now it’s feet. Runs away from it when it tries to huddle under it. Dust bath? I’ve got kitchen roll down as I was given advice by many on here to use that for now. One is three days old and one is 4 days old. Got both from farms which are both reputable. Not sure what breed one is but I know the new one is a bantam.

 

[Hatcher1997]

Oh Lordy this is certainly complicated! I don’t know anything about ducks so I don’t know if the new duck will be a good chick companion or not.
Of the chicks I got confused. Is it the first one or the new friend that pecks the mirror? Remember chickens explore everything with their beaks, so are you sure pecking the mirror is a sign of upset? It might just be ‘getting to know you’ sort of pecks.

The original chick bullies the new one. And currently whilst I’ve separated them and put the new one in a temporary box it’s just lonely and wants out, but the other one is fine now on it’s own

 

[RoyalChick]

The original chick bullies the new one. And currently whilst I’ve separated them and put the new one in a temporary box it’s just lonely and wants out, but the other one is fine now on it’s own

Maybe I misunderstood. Did you try a mirror with either of the solo chicks?

 

[SilverBirds]

Yeah, it's hard to understand what you are saying. It's not your fault, it's just hard to get all the info out of text and it can get confusing.

 

[Hatcher1997]

Maybe I misunderstood. Did you try a mirror with either of the solo chicks?

Yes it doesn’t do anything, they both have just pecked at it and then get bored. One chick is definitely so aggressive but I’m not sure if it’s because it was born without a flock and doesn’t understand or if it’s male? Because it won’t let the new chick even huddle underneath like they’re suppose to do.

 

[SilverBirds]

Was the OG chick alone for the first four days of his life? He may not know how to act around other chickens.

 

[Hatcher1997]

Was the OG chick alone for the first four days of his life? He may not know how to act around other chickens.

Alone in the incubator for 24hr, even then it was like really wanting to get out and wasn’t calm at all. I put it in the brooder and noticed it’s behaviour, didn’t want to be put down, had to have it in my neck for hours, cried for any attention, it didn’t sleep for a whole day, until I turned the lamp off and gave it a hot water bottle and made a tent out of a fluffy material, it finally slept. I tried the mirror, teddies etc I then asked for advice and was told to get him a buddy. I placed this new chick in there yesterday evening, and the OG hates it, doesn’t understand how to huddle, steals food, pecks it’s feet and eyes relentlessly. So I’ve separated them over night, in the same brooder, but separated into two. And I was up for 5 hours trying to settle them both as one had the glow and one had the lamp. The OG hated it so I gave it back a hot water bottle and switched lamp off, fell asleep instantly. The other one was already sleeping fine but the OG kept making squeeling noises and the other one was just trying to respond with little bubbly noises. Eventually both fell asleep. I came down this morning and put them both back together. Didn’t work. So I’ve separated into two boxes. One is in a temporary small one for now until I get a bigger box today. I’ve attached images above of diet and layout. Do I need to cover the top of the box with the one with the glow plate? Because there’s no other heat source apart from the plate and it doesn’t admit much heat around the box. Thank you

 

[Hatcher1997]

Yeah, it's hard to understand what you are saying. It's not your fault, it's just hard to get all the info out of text and it can get confusing.

Please see my other comments I’ve attached photos and re worded it too. Thank you

 

[RoyalChick]

Alone in the incubator for 24hr, even then it was like really wanting to get out and wasn’t calm at all. I put it in the brooder and noticed it’s behaviour, didn’t want to be put down, had to have it in my neck for hours, cried for any attention, it didn’t sleep for a whole day, until I turned the lamp off and gave it a hot water bottle and made a tent out of a fluffy material, it finally slept. I tried the mirror, teddies etc I then asked for advice and was told to get him a buddy. I placed this new chick in there yesterday evening, and the OG hates it, doesn’t understand how to huddle, steals food, pecks it’s feet and eyes relentlessly. So I’ve separated them over night, in the same brooder, but separated into two. And I was up for 5 hours trying to settle them both as one had the glow and one had the lamp. The OG hated it so I gave it back a hot water bottle and switched lamp off, fell asleep instantly. The other one was already sleeping fine but the OG kept making squeeling noises and the other one was just trying to respond with little bubbly noises. Eventually both fell asleep. I came down this morning and put them both back together. Didn’t work. So I’ve separated into two boxes. One is in a temporary small one for now until I get a bigger box today. I’ve attached images above of diet and layout. Do I need to cover the top of the box with the one with the glow plate? Because there’s no other heat source apart from the plate and it doesn’t admit much heat around the box. Thank you

For what it is worth I only ever use a plate - the chicks put their backs on it and warm up. How about you keep the two chicks in the same box but separate with hardware cloth or other mesh - so they can see each other but not actually harm each other. That is how you would integrate them with bigger chickens - sort of 'see no touch' period until they get used to each other.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

have a bit of a dilemma I need some help with please!

I got given what I thought were two Muscovy ducks however one hatched and turned out to be a chicken. The other one which is a Muscovy is still incubating. Set up the brooder, everything going well except it’s constant crying and frantic looking around as if it was lonely, I’m running on 2 hours sleep the last two days due to the relentless squealing crying. I then took advice and got another chick, one day older from another farm. The original chick hated it and kept pecking it’s eyes whilst the other would stand and freeze and not defend itself. It started on its feet and would do it whilst it was trying to sleep and also steal its food. I separated them in the same brooder but with a cardboard cutout between them, the brinsea glow on one side and a red bulb on the other. I was up from 12am until 5am trying to get them to stop crying, had to eventually switch them over and turn the bulb off and use a hot water bottle for the other and it preferred that and fell asleep. I’ve woken up today and tried to put them back together to no Advil, it just won’t take to the chick. So I’ve put them in two separate boxes, one is calm the other is frantically crying. One has had a throthy poo just now, but the one after that was hard? So not sure what to make of it, and the second chick I’ve heard a few sneezes from? Both eating and drinking fine. I’m just lost with what to do now. Thank you

What is the temp of your brooder?