baby chicks biting each others butts, drawing blood...

[carriemacf]

i have a batch of 2 week old chicks hatched naturally with mama hen, and up until today they have been 100% healthy...i checked on them this afternoon (i check them several times daily, providing fresh food/water and ensuring their safety as they are segregated with mama away from the flock) and noticed several bloody butts...then noticed chicks without bloody butts biting the ones with the bloody butts, drawing more blood. they have not had any pasty butt, and this seems to have come on suddenly today.
what can/should i do about this? mama intervenes when the chicks cry when they are being bitten but she can't stop it from happening. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

You will need to find out if they are having blood in their droppings, or just being pecked due to a lack of room. How big is the area they are in, and how many chicks? Blood in droppings, means coccidiosis in young chicks, so Corid (amprollium) should be given if you suspect bloody droppings. Do you see any chicks standing or sitting puffed up or hunching with head drawn into the shoulders, lethargic, having ruffled feathers, having diarrhea, and not eating? It would be best for you to get them out of this area into a larger one with clean dry bedding. BluKote or anti-pick lotions may be helpful to red bottoms, if this is only due to pecking, but I would be tempted to go ahead and start Corid. Dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid Corid, or 1.5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water for 5-7 days, treating all chicks.

 

[carriemacf]

thank you so much for your reply, i think you are right, i need to get the corrid started! there are 9 chicks and the area is about 10ft x 10ft, and i did notice yesterday that they seemed kind of bored in there, so i did let mama take them out for just about an hour before bedtime, she kept them very near the enclosure and the rest of the flock was curious but not intrusive. is it ok to allow mama to take them out and about at this age? there are plenty of trees for cover and she also kept them petty much exclusively underneath the coop while they were out and then promptly marched them back inside when it was time to roost. this is the first batch i have naturally hatched and let mama do all the work so I'm just not sure how much freedom i should let them have right now...can they infect the rest of the adult flock?