first time broody question

chicksurreal said:

Mr Beaks said:

She is taking good care of the 1st chick she hatched but she attacked the 2nd and 3rd one. She was quite aggressive with them and bloodied them up a bit. Is it normal for a 1st time broody to do this? The one in the bottom pic is an Orpington. The first two pictured are hers and are the ones she rejected. Both seem to be healthy and strong

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Sweet little babies!!! So far this year I've had 7 girls go broody for their first time ( and three have been broody more than once this year) and have seen a huge difference in the the way they treat the chicks. Most have been great, but I had one be homicidal and kill three of the chicks she hatched and I was only able to save the fourth one by being there and grabbing it as it hatched. Another one hatched two chicks and literally pushed them out of the nest, thankfully I had another broody hatching at the same time and she took them in with the rest of hers. It's very interesting to watch the differences in behavior. I just had a girl hatch four chicks today and she actually even helped one out of the egg, so far she's been fantastic.

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Mr Beaks said:

Interesting indeed! That's a lot of varied behavior. I am wondering if there is something they can sense that we cannot? I took both babies out today to see what her response would be and not much has changed. She screamed at them & puffed up. Had I not brought an offering of live meal worms things would've gotten ugly. Anyway, congrats on all your new babies!

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chicksurreal said:

Well, the chick I saved from the homicidal hen is healthy and doing great in the flock now as are the two that got kicked out of the nest. It seems like there is room for all kinds of strange things to go on in nature. I did some research on homicidal hens after the incident where she killed three of them and I guess it can happen. Perfectly healthy chicks can be killed by the broody for some reason that only she knows.

I named that girl Granny Hatchet and she wears a leg band now so I will remember to not let her sit on eggs again. It was awful, and I'm not willing to go through that again.

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song of joy said:

Sorry you had to experience that. "Homicidal hen" is the same term I used for one of my buff orpingtons. I tried to foster chicks to her and she brutally attacked them. She was so focused on setting that the hormones never switched over to "tend the chicks". Instead, she was totally focused on "defend the eggs". When I let her try to hatch eggs, she continued setting and actually crushed the chicks that were trying to hatch. She's on the short list for chicken soup.

After decades of being produced in industrial hatcheries, many hens have simply forgotten the ancient wisdom of setting, brooding, teaching, protecting and mothering chicks. Sometimes they get part of it right, but it takes the full suite of skills to successfully raise chicks. Fortunately, I've had good experiences with two broody hens this summer. Both have been very good moms, and I have a much greater appreciation for their skills after witnessing the actions of the homicidal hen.

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