I loved watching and hearing the chicks for nearly forty eight hours. Then the stress kicked in. Crazy chicks. They can, and this time did, start to peck at each other. In this case they chose three of the lighter chicks, and worked on pulling out their tail feathers. Which made them bleed a little. And ALL chickens, when they see blood, keep pecking at the blood. (We used to have this stuff that looked like tar to put on a chicken if it got injured. It worked.) I can’t really separate them, they are so small, they still need to be kept at about ninety degrees, which means: close to the heat lamp. And I can’t leave them in with the others, they’ll be pecked to death. An old tub might work, and actually did. Close enough to the heat lamp to heat through the tub’s walls, and enough space to live until the sores heal a bit. But then those three began to peck at each other. I know, I know, ALL chickens . . .
So it’s dark in the room now. Just the glow of the red heat lamp. The ones on the outside of the tub seem to have stopped eating tail feathers. In the tub, it is very dark so they can’t see the blood. Crazy chicks!