What is going on this year

[Tamrajh]

3 of my 5 chicks are back in the brooder at week 10. One has crooked toe and I'm still trying to fix it. One keeps crying and picking at her feathers. The last one was bleeding from her legs when I went to feed dinner tonight. I saw the older hens pecking at her but I'm not sure why. I don't see anything wrong with her other than the blood on her legs where the older hens have pecked at her.
This is the first time I've had problems with chicks and I've have had one die and now three back in the brooder. This is definitely not my year for babies. So frustrated and sad.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

So sorry. Check for lice and mites. Paint the one that is bleeding with blue-cote. Can you splint the toes on the one chick?

I just had a new baby with an outer toe turned under and put tiny "shoes" of thin cardboard on it for 2 days and it is fine now. I know this baby is older...what's up with the crooked toe?

 

[Tamrajh]

How did you get the "shoes" to stay on? I can't figure out how to do anything that won't almost immediately slide off so nothing has worked for more than a few minutes.
I've checked for bugs on the girls, haven't found anything at all. They look fine! I don't think they were getting enough to eat or drink outside though so I'm glad I've got them in the house for a while again. They look smaller than the Cuckoo Marans that are the same age. A lot smaller.

 

[chick4chicks]

My one baby Silkie had a toe that was crooked, I used a small piece of popsicle stick and vet wrap to keep it on , in 2 days it was fine. Good luck.

 

[Tamrajh]

It's just getting worse. I checked on the girls (the babies) when I got home from work tonight and noticed that one girl had a bump on her cheek. I finally figured out that it's her eye. I think the big girls pecked out her eye!
I'm going to post something in the section for sickness and help aids. Hopefully someone can tell me how to treat it.
Good grief.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I cut a piece of cardboard (not corrugated) about 1/2 X 1/2 inch and rounded the corners slightly. I put a piece of double stick tape on one side, placed the chicks foot on top making sure the toe was spread out properly, then put another piece of regular scotch tape over top of his foot and around the bottom of the "shoe". We called them his "magic shoes" like Forrest Gump!! Sure enough in a couple of days his toes were fine!!

 

[KKatknap]

I think maybe you might be trying to integrate them a little early. Did you say they are 10 weeks old? I usually wait til they are at least 12 weeks...and then put them in a separate enclosure in the coop for a couple of weeks after that. If you're able to wait a little longer, that might help. The older hens can be really brutal!

I hope your babies get better! Good luck!!

 

[Tamrajh]

Really? I thought it was OK to put them out when they were 8 weeks so they have been out for a while now and it wasn't until this week that I saw problems arise.
I posted a while ago about a chick that was crying and running around, I think this was her and perhaps it was because her eye had been pecked. She kept turning to the right but I thought she was putting her head on her back and checked her back, didn't think to look at her face.

 

[KKatknap]

Here's a couple of threads I found with some info on eye injuries. Hope it helps!


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=69484

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2262278