Help! Brand new Rhode island red chick trying to eat everyone else

[Sanderguy777]

I had a similar situation when I got my first chicks last year. They all adored pecking and grabbing each other's toes when in the cardboard box on the car ride home. When they got into the brooder, they settled down and stopped picking on each other.

I would just give them a bit of time to settle in. Keep an eye on them and intervene if necessary, and it might stop on its own. Perhaps give them something more interesting to peck at, such as a toy or (as previously suggested) some food on the floor. Here is a good article on the subject: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aggressive-baby-chicks-and-how-to-stop-the-behavior.72029/

Good luck!

I did the food on the floor, and also gave them a nice shiny putty knife (dull) to peck at. They calmed down a bit. The drive home they seemed fine. They all chirped happily and went to sleep (about 80 or 90⁰f in the truck).

I'll keep an eye on them and make sure they're OK as much as possible.

 

[Sanderguy777]

No, they don’t need light. It actually gets them in a good day/night schedule without light. As long as you can keep them warm, let the sun be their light.

Ok, good. Read in a book they needed it for 48 hours, but mama doesn't have a light, so I didn't really think it was too important LOL

For my chicks, I was using a brooder heat plate, but they were still cold and stressed. I then added a red heat lamp (made specially for chicks). The warmth and soft light calmed them down almost instantly.

A white light is not great to use, as the constant brightness is stressful. Red heat lamps are much better. (A quote from another thread

That's hilarious. I read somewhere on here that red lamps were BAD for them. I am trying a heat plate too, but it doesn't get very warm very fast, so I'm leaving the reptile lamp in there for now (heat emitter, not visible light emitter).

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I read somewhere on here that red lamps were BAD for them.

Red heat lamps are not usually considered ideal compared to a heat plate, but in our case it was… well, life or death! Warmth or freezing! The heat plate was not working, so the lamp was necessary.

When I talked about a “red heat lamp being much better”, it was in comparison to a white lamp, not a brooder plate. A brooder plate is a lot safer than a heat lamp when it comes down to it.

It’s not that heat lamps are so bad, after all, a LOT of people use one with great results! They just have some cons. Here’s a good article on heat lamps: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-lamp-for-chicks-a-step-by-step-guide.78334/

 

[Sanderguy777]

Red heat lamps are not usually considered ideal compared to a heat plate, but in our case it was… well, life or death! Warmth or freezing! The heat plate was not working, so the lamp was necessary.

When I talked about a “red heat lamp being much better”, it was in comparison to a white lamp, not a brooder plate. A brooder plate is a lot safer than a heat lamp when it comes down to it.

It’s not that heat lamps are so bad, after all, a LOT of people use one with great results! They just have some cons. Here’s a good article on heat lamps: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-lamp-for-chicks-a-step-by-step-guide.78334/

Thanks for the info. I'll take a look.

 

[Perris]

You could also try cutting a turf from the garden (ideally a weedy bit, and certainly a bit that hasn't been drenched in herbicide or suchlike) and popping that in the brooder. It will not only give them some real forage and stimulation, but also prime their immune systems for when you put them outside.

 

[Sanderguy777]

You could also try cutting a turf from the garden (ideally a weedy bit, and certainly a bit that hasn't been drenched in herbicide or suchlike) and popping that in the brooder. It will not only give them some real forage and stimulation, but also prime their immune systems for when you put them outside.

Is there risk that they get coccidiosis or something from it? They weren't vaccinated for that, and I'm worried about it (didn't learn about it till the day before I picked them up, and I had already ordered them, so it was too late to cancel.

 

[Perris]

Is there risk that they get coccidiosis or something from it? They weren't vaccinated for that, and I'm worried about it (didn't learn about it till the day before I picked them up, and I had already ordered them, so it was too late to cancel.

The intention is to get a microdose of coccidiosis from it. They will build immunity before being challenged by a much larger dose when they go out.

See this for more information and explanations
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-...rmyard-poultry/part-3-control-of-coccidiosis/

 

[NatJ]

Ok, good. Read in a book they needed it for 48 hours, but mama doesn't have a light, so I didn't really think it was too important LOL

Chicks absorb the egg yolk just before they hatch, and that provides enough food & water for their first few days of life.

Chicks that hatch under a hen will spend those days mostly underneath her, but they will keep popping out to eat little bits of food and try drinking. By the time they use up the yolk, they already know how to eat, they have already eaten some food, and they know that they won't eat at night so they need to fill up before bed.

For chicks that are shipped through the mail, those first days are spent in a box with no food and no proper day/night cycle. By the time the chicks arrive, they badly need to eat and drink, but they don't yet know how. They are also tired from being jostled around in the mail, and need to sleep. And of course they are cold as well.

Keeping a light on during the first night or two, as well as during the day, will let chicks alternate eating & napping all night as well as all day, which can be important for helping them recover from the stress of being shipped. (Some chicks will be fine anyway, but for some others that is very important-- and of course you can't really tell which ones need it until after it's too late.)

Other reasons for using a heat lamp with shipped chicks (light & heat from the same source) is that they can be getting warm while they are eating and drinking (not possible with a brooder plate, where they must choose warmth vs. food). Also, the light attracts the chicks toward it. They have to learn to go to a heat source that does not make light and does not cluck to them (a mother hen clucks rather than producing light.)

Once the chicks have had a few days to get over being shipped, and they have learned to eat and drink, and they have gotten several good meals inside them: darkness at night is not a problem. As you have read, it can even have benefits from that point on.

That's hilarious. I read somewhere on here that red lamps were BAD for them. I am trying a heat plate too, but it doesn't get very warm very fast, so I'm leaving the reptile lamp in there for now (heat emitter, not visible light emitter).

Red lamps are better than white lamps, as regards chicks pecking each other. That is why they are so popular.

White lamps in the daytime are good for helping the chicks tell day from night. So regardless of whether you are providing the heat from a red bulb, or a heat emitter, or a brooder plate, it is still good to provide normal white light in the daytime (but that light does not need to provide any heat.) The daytime light can be sunshine, or any kind of lighting that works for letting people see too.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Just adding this in here, but chickens don't have to be helped by humans to tell the time. They have an internal clock that tells them what the time is no matter where they are. I read in a book once that a study was done where one chicken each was put in a completely dark box with only enough space to roost, eat and drink (never do this at home, it is not right for the chickens). The researchers found out that the chickens went to roost at the same time and woke up at the same time as they did when they were outside of the box, which means that they can tell time even if they are in a completely dark space with no light. So, chicks do not need to be helped to tell what time it currently is.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Just took my 4 new hen chicks home. Black australorp, black sexlink, Rhode island red, and buff orpington.

The RIR is aggressive, and went after the other chicks almost immediately. Just nibbling thinking they were food. But now she's discovered that the black australorp has white tips on her wings, which look like food. Everyone else now thinks so too.

Any ideas?

separate the one being picked on, and separate the Rhode Island. in my experience, Rhode Island Red chickens are much more aggressive compared to Australorps and Plymouth Rocks.