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chick question

19 years ago

OK I have three new chicks approximately 3 to 4 weeks old. the bigger of the three is a white leghorn (angel) with hardly any feathers although I can tell they are trying to grow in. My situation is that the new hampshire red(penny) who is much smaller is plucking out angels feathers. is this normal for chicks, I can already see who the boss of the three will be, which is surprising to me since she is much smaller. I guess personality rules. Angel doesn't act like it bothers her but I can see little red dots. Is this something I need to be concerned about. Should I seperate them because that might be a problem also I hate to do that since they are such social birds. They are so young maybe they will stop this soon but if they don't.... I really hate it because I can tell that angel is going to be a beautiful girl and she is so ugly duckling right now with that bare nekkid butt and breast LOL

CI

Comments (7)

  • 19 years ago

    Give them more room and something else to do. Something to hide behind, jump up on, etc. I have way too many right now because when I ordered 34 chicks they threw in another unwanted 20 more! This morning I go out to find that THEY ATE one of the expensive ones I ordered!

  • 19 years ago

    An interesting thing about chickens is that they will kill and eat the smaller and less aggressive ones in the flock. Also if you have an established flock and put young chicks in with the adults, they will usually only live about 4 hours before all of them are killed and/or eaten.

    Once your flock is established the only safe way to have chicks is if they have a mother hen to protect them from the rest of the flock. A good mother hen will drive everyone else away from her babies. She will also make sure that her babies get food. Adults will not let orphans eat or drink.
    Cheryl

  • 19 years ago

    i agree with cheri-belle ,they need more room .
    whenever i get chicks/chickens that get picked
    i put some vicks -44d on the picked area
    it hasnt ever failed to deter the picking .
    Zeke

  • 19 years ago

    How big of a place do they need, this is already 8 by 6 feet and they are just three tiny chicks L i will definetly try that vicks vapor rub thingy though. thanks all

    CI

  • 19 years ago

    I agree, they need more room and a distraction. A large, grassy dirt clod provides hours of fun, food and entertainment, as does slow-to-eat things like raw corn of the cob or a cabbage to peck at(you may have to score the corn and cabbage at first so they get the idea that this is something to eat). Live mealworms from the pet store are also great and very good for them. Plus it's entertaining to watch them run around like mad things chasing the one chick with a worm. :)

    cheribelle, for that hatchery to send you 20 extra chicks was downright irresponsible--most people plan ahead and if they order 25 chicks, that means they only have room to RUN 25 chicks! One or two extras is OK, but 20 is downright wrong. :( Good for you for doing your best to accomodate those babies.

    Velvet ~:>

  • 19 years ago

    Velvet you're not kidding! This is way out of hand, the only ones I have lost have been the expensive ones I ordered thanks to the overcrowding! It's way out of hand, and I don't know if these roosters will get big and nice to butcher or not. I doubt if they have any orders for them! I have a notion to send them a picture of the picked bones of one of the Blue Andalusions. I have tried to deal with them but this is just bad. I think those extras have cost me about $16 in dead chicks, and Lord knows what in extra food! For chicks I don't want. Geez.

  • 19 years ago

    another way to keep the chicks occupied, is to tie the corn on the cob on a string, so they have to really try to get it, this kept our babies busy for hours and they quit pecking at the others,
    the vicks rub will not only tast bad to the ones doing the pecking, but will help heal the wounds of the pecked.
    We also had a mirror in the hen house for them to take out thier agressions on. endless fun to watch!.

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