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Chick pecking his own foot - any advice on how to stop it?

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Callisto · 02/07/2008 08:32

One of my hatchlings (2 days old now) has pecked at his foot until it is raw and bleeding. This happened overnight and when I spotted it this morning I took him out and washed it down with some water on a tissue. He seems fine, but I need to try to cover it or he won't stop. So the question is - have you ever bandaged a tiny chicks foot (and he is tiny - a bantam. And if you have how do you go about it. I have banadged countless horses in my time so I know the principles involved.

Many thanks.

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Callisto · 02/07/2008 09:33

An update: the chick seems to be pecking at the feathers on his feet rather than the feet themselves. He gets a beakfull of the fluff and pulls as hard as he can, falling over in the process. It is very strange, the other two chicks are not doing this. He has made both feet bloody since my last post at 8.30am so I have put little plasters on both feet to try and prevent any more pecking. The chicks have a very large brooder for (a cardboard box around 18"x18", infrared heat lamp, water and chick crumbs. I have seen them all eating and drinking and they all sem to be pooing too.

Any advice would be gratefully received. I'm going to hit Google now.

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Callisto · 02/07/2008 09:53

OK, last update for now (on the off-chance that anyone is interested ): having googled it nothing much came up, but it seems that giving chicks foraging opportunities lowers the chances of feather pecking. So my chicks 5* accomodation now consists of hay to scratch around in as well as the shavings bedding and a small stick to hop up on to and peck at. The plasters seem to be doing the trick, but poor little chick is exhausted after all the disturbances so I'm going to leave them to get on with it for a few hours.