Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Pixieswift on August 09, 2011, 16:16
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Hi all, I have 8 new chicks in total to a large red sussex i dont have a cockerel so got the fertalised eggs off my supplier about 3 days before they were due to hatch...The problem i have is this all my chicks are ATTACKING each other AGGRESSIVLEY not playful they are only 4 weeks old i have never seen this before i watch them every morning and they are so peaceful with each other and always play fighting but nothing like this. yesterday i went to see them in the morning let them out fed them etc and all was well, i went back mid morning and it was like a scene from a horror movie one little chick had her baby comb all ripped and EVERY feather pulled from her head and all blooming patches and raw flesh some of the others had cuts and blooming spots to but she was in a terrible way :( i immediatly took her out of her run and put her in my coat cleaned all her head and put the purple stuff on violet spray and kept her seperate from the others thinking i would wait until dark then put her back which i did and what i saw was horrible they immediatly grouped together got her in a corner and started attacking her poor wee lass so i brought her in the house to sleep and watch some tv (SHE LIKED THAT). All my girls free range but the chicks are in really big runs inside the free range area so get to see all that is going on so its definatly not bordom i think there is 4 boys and 4 girls. Has anyone seen this happen before in chicks so young, sorry for the long ramble.
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Don't have any experience with chicks, hopefully an experienced member will help soon. Do you have just one feed/drink station? If you do you will need to put a couple more in which might help. Good luck.
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do they have enough room?
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once blood has been drawn they will attack like mad - you need to get rid of any redness so use purple spray. If you have any then use some wound powder to stem any blood otherwise a little cornflour will do in an emergency.
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I have some that are always fighting, and I really do mean always. They do draw blood often but I dab on some purple spray with a cotton bud. At one point I was sure they would kill eachother! These chicks have turned out to be boys so I doubt it will stop any time soon. I think all you can do is 'manage' the situaton really.
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Aggression like that is usually precipated by something. Do they have enough room? Even small chicks need enough space to get out of each others way.
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Hi all many thanks for your replys, yes they definatly have more than enough room its a very large run there are 2 drinkers and 2 feeders so enough for all 8 chicks they always have plenty of water and food. I gave the little one that was injured badly a good spray with violet spray and waited again to put her back and all 7 ATTACKED her again so bizarre i have never seen this before really brutal she didnt stand a chance. I called my breeder and asked if he would have the chicks back and he said yes as they are all very healthy at 4 weeks old he will sell them when they get to POL and im hoping he keeps the little boys....I;m such a softy and felt so sorry for the injured one i kept her tee hee she is called little star and is so happy now and back in with her mother with no threat from the others and im happy to say has joined our little family, this really has put me off hatching anymore chicks if i get broodys next year they can sit there till the cows come home... ;)
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some of it may have been bad genetics, it can happen we have had two lots of bad chicks that were init for blood out of 500 chicks only seen about a handful like it.some say it might be hybrid vigor my back side there are some good crosses and then some very bad ones and that is what happends when it goes bad.