Rejected chick

[Mayitbe]

I have a hen who was broody so we decided to let her sit on some eggs. She hatched 3 and did great until now. The chicks are 3-4 weeks old and today she is chasing one away whenever it gets close. She even picked it up by the neck and tossed it. It is staying as far away from her as possible. I am worried that she is going to hurt it - I don't know if this has anything to do with it but this chick is a different color (blk/wht) than the others who are gold. She's raised them well up to this point. If I pull the chick, what do I do with it? He/she will be all alone.

 

[GitaBooks]

Wow! That does sound pretty aggressive!

All hens have different ways of telling chicks they are ready to "wean" them. Mine peck at them, but never that hard. Like I said though, different hens "wean" at different times and in different ways.
If the chick is nearly fully feathered or fully feathered, it can probably be left out there. It will be lonely for a few days until the other chicks begin drifting from their mother, then they should form a trio.
I have three bantam chicks, two with normal feathers and one with silkied feathering. The one with silkied feathering isn't able to jump or fly as well and often is left behind when the others perch. It follows them around all day, but because its different it just doesn't do quite as well.

Best of luck with your chickens!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Some hens are color sensitive and will reject a chick that is a different color. It may be this is a rooster and was getting very cheeky with momma, but that is pretty aggressive. There is also a small chance it could be sick or something is defective with it. I've had hens attack another hen that was ill before I ever knew it was ill.

If you have warm weather, and the chick is fully feathered, it should be fine in an enclosed safe area. You may choose another chick to keep it company so momma has 2 left and 2 are in your enclosed area.

LofMc

 

[Mayitbe]

Thank you for the replies.
I did end up taking the one chick out for a day while I tried to figure this out. I didn't want the one to be all alone so I decided to separate the hen from all the chicks and put this one back with the other chicks. So, this morning I opened the door to let just hen out. She walked out and never looked back. I put the chick in with the other two and they seem completely fine and happy. I thought there would be some unhappiness but all is well. They are weaned and together. Whew…. no more worrying.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm glad it all worked out.