Sat, 22nd September 2007
Cannibal Chicks Attack!
Well, the second week in the brooders started well. The chicks in the converted greenhouse seemed happy, temperatures were okay, so I thought all would be well.
Then on Sunday, hubby called me to say that there was blood on some of the chicks in the greenhouse! When we looked, there were quite a few with blood at the base of their tails, and as we looked, other chicks were chasing them around, pecking at their tails, and in some cases their wings!
Oh my god, hubby panicked! I panicked, then I went and got a large cardboard box, one of the ones the removal companies give you, put some wood shavings in it and went into the greenhouse and picked up all the ones that were injured.
I'd got some purple spray that had been recommended to me for one of the old girls who had her vent pecked. So I sprayed all the injured bits of the chicks. We took the box in to the dining room. Funnily enough, it didn't seem to bother the chicks. We didn't know why it had happened. I checked the temperature in the greenhouse, it was a little high, so we opened the vent a bit more, they had plenty to eat and drink. So I went in and read through my old Smallholder magazines, and looked feather pecking up on the internet. There seems to be a myriad of reasons why it happens, but over heating and stress seem the most common. We kept the greenhouse cooler through Sunday, but we were still getting more injured chicks, until we had about 40 in these big boxes in the dining room! I put a post on my favourite forum (see sites I like!!) as I knew there are quite a few good chook keepers on there. One of the members answered and said that trying to convert the greenhouse wasn't a good idea, as with all the glass (even though hubby had covered some of it in black plastic!) it was nigh on impossible to regulate the temperature properly and we should get them out quick! they are over heating and getting very stressed. He also suggested we hang a lettuce and/or corn on the cobs in the brooders to help keep the chicks occupied.
The only other place we had was my small garden shed, but it is only 6 x 4, so not really big enough for 150 chicks! Anyway, I cleared it all out, washed it and disinfected it and we waited for awhile to let it dry, luckily it was a nice warm day so didn't take long. Hubby went and bought some more hardboard to cut the corners off the area and we put the infra red lamp in there. I also got one of the boxes the chicks came home in, cut the side down a bit and filled it with sieved dry soil from my polytunnel. I put that in the new shed, with the food and water, and they loved it! How chicks that young instinctively know how to dust bathe is amazing! They also loved the lettuces! Jumping up to reach bits. It certainly kept them busy!
Monday arrived, and we had more casualties!!! I think the small shed was just too small, so I spent all day trying to think of where else they could go! We had taken my cold frame that hubby had made me into the garage for the injured chicks. It was very warm in there with a pygmy lightbulb painted red, so they were out of the dining room, but during the course of monday, I still had loads of injuries. I had to get them into somewhere bigger quick!
Strangely enough, the chicks in the original shed were fine, no cannibal tendencies at all, so I thought perhaps it was the stress of moving that caused the problem.
Filed under My Chook Diary by grannieannie
Comments on Cannibal Chicks Attack! »
While stress caused by overheating, too many chicks (or too many adult birds) in too small a space or a change of housing can lead to feather pecking, they are by no means the only causes. In fact, animal health and welfare researchers still don't know what exactly leads to feather pecking or how to stamp it out.
It's also made difficult because most of the research has been done on chickens kept in cages, with little or none done on free range poultry.
I mention this because we have free-range ISA Browns, as well as growing flock of Scots Greys. The ISA Browns are gradually reducing in numbers as the Scots Greys come on so we only have 10 ISA Brown hens in a hut that could take up to 50 hens and still have plenty of space.
The ISA Browns are free of mites and worms, roam around under trees, have a good diet, have plenty of grass and other greens, get their litter changed weekly, and are very relaxed hens. But they are inveterate feather peckers and look a right state.
As well as trying to remove any stressors, we've also used gentian violet, anti-peck spray and Ukadex spray (which is the most vile smelling stuff I've come across) but to no effect. It's not aggressive feather pecking, as you see when hens display dominance by pecking each other's heads, but more like a grooming action gone wrong.
They tend not to do it inside their hut, but only when they're out foraging. One hen walks past another and, in doing so, they both pull out a feather.
The only thing that works are anti-pecking bits, little plastic clips that keep their beaks slightly open. They can eat and drink but can't close their beaks enough to grasp a feather. The hens look quite funny as it looks like they're wearing nose rings.
I've had a bit of flak about using the bits as some animal welfare groups think they're cruel and inhumane. But they do no injury to the hen nor cause them pain (although they don't like having them fitted), and to my mind are much more humane than allowing the chickens to pluck each other bald.
What has amused me, though, is that when I post about the problem in poultry forums is that I'm continually told "hang up some lettuce or cabbage for the hens to peck at to relieve their boredom". Erm, but they're free range birds that roam under trees and in very long grass and weeds so I don't think boredom is the problem.
I suspect this won't help you any, but if you want a good starting point to work from with feather pecking, have a look at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association's backgrounder on the problem - http://www.theranger.co.uk/index.asp?show=newsArticle&id=432&country=
Hi
What is the purple spray called please, I have a chick in crisis!
uphilldowndale
Hi there, the spray is made by NAF, and its Aloe Vera Purple Spray. I didn't think it did any good, as after a chick has it sprayed where the wound is, another chick still pecked at it, but hubby said if you watch, a chick will go to peck, then tastes it and doesn't peck again.
We bought it at our local animal feed place, which is also a pet shop. 'horsey' shops sell it, but apparently it is safe for poultry too. Another one that was recommended to me from the Allotment Growing site, by someone who has kept chooks for many years is Gentian Violet.
I hope your chick will be okay. Its very worrying isn't it?? It doesn't seem to matter what I try, the chicks still do it. I found another 7 today with blood on their tails, so off they went to the cold frame hospital!!!! I keep them separate from the others for a couple of days until the wound heals a bit, but hubby said I probably needn't bother, but I hate to see them getting hurt, although it doesn't seem to bother them much. They squeal a bit and move away, and if they are lucky, the chicks find something else to do!!!
Thank you for the information; our chucks are free range, the dog is not!
She unbeknown to me she cornered a hen in the barn, she is not a chicken killer, but she had I think 'played ball' with it, by the time I came to its rescue.
It has lost a clump of feathers from the back of its neck, it looks raw.
I hope it doesn't get infected. We did think of putting a bandage on!
Ouch, hope your chook will be okay. The purple spray does seem to dry the skin out very quickly. Looks awful for a bit, then the colour fades quite quickly.
I nearly emailed you back after me saying the chooks seem to peck at it only once then stop, but today, I put 2 pecked chicks back in with the thers straight after I'd sprayed them, and they wre still being pecked, so it was back in the hospital with them! But yours is a different case isn't it? So I hope you get it fixed soon.
Hi, I can sympathize, I have 3 pullets wounded from bullying, I use the purple spray and the tar spray, but keeping them apart especially at night seems to be the only answer at the moment
Hi Jane, how do you find the tar stuff? A friend of ours got some, but he said it makes a mess of the eggs and you get all sorts sticking to the chickens featehrs like shavings etc when they have tar on them.