Hen killed chick!

[jak2002003]

Today I went out to see one of my hens eggs had hatched and the chick was cheeping and was not under the hen. It was trying to get back under her and each time she would peck it hard on the head!

I picked up the chick - it was unhurt and healthy. I lifter up the hen and put it under her then left. As I was walking away I could see her pecking at the chick under her body. Then she settled down.

When I checked again later the chick was out of the nest and fallen onto the coop floor. I picked it up - it was still OK and lively. Again I put it under her. Then I had to go to work.

Now I have come home the chick is dead and laying in front of the hen.

Why did she do that? Its never happened before. She is incubating 2 more eggs and they are starting to hatch. Will she kill these chicks also?

It was upsetting for me as these chickens are pets I was looking forward to some chicks. The chick was also lovely colours and I am upset after waiting all this time for the eggs to hatch.

 

[BoltonChicken]

In the chicken world, as in the human world, there are just some bad mothers. She had her reasons for pecking the chick, but we will never know what they were. I had a Buff Orpington hen set on six eggs. When two hatched she left the nest and abandoned the other four. Why? Maybe they weren't HER eggs. Maybe they hadn't developed. Maybe she thought two was enough. If your hen gets aggressive toward these next two chicks when they hatch, I would pull the chicks and put them in a brooder away from this hen.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

I had almost the exact scenario happen last night, except my chicks were from a feed store, placed under a broody. I got up several times to the sound of peeping, the same chick kept getting out from under mama, I'd put her back. This morning it was a different chick. When I put that one back, she tried pecking it, so I pulled that one, leaving her with two. Then I saw her grab the first one and try to drag it out from under her. The third chick had stayed with her the whole night, but was just pecked to death a few minutes ago, before I could save her. The other two are in the house now, in a brooder.
It just sucks. It's never fun finding a dead chick. Hopefully when your other eggs hatch, you'll have better luck, or at least a chance to pull them.

 

[jak2002003]

I am checking the other eggs in the morning. If she is being aggressive to the new chicks I will try to put them under another broody hen whos eggs are nearly ready to hatch. If that does not work I will have to put them in a brooder.

I really did not want to raise them myself, as its so messy and time consuming. So much easier to leave the chicks for mum to take care of.

I will keep my fingers crossed all will be well.

That hen is bad news I think, she is very aggressive to the other hens also, and will peck me hard if I go near her nest. The other broody hens just puff themselves up and make noise when I tough them, but they will never peck me.

 

[RonC]

Sometimes they just won't accept chicks from other hens. Some are just bad moms. Then there are good moms and want to care for all the chicks she can whether they are hers or not. Just depends on the individual hen.

 

[jak2002003]

Well she hatched out the other 2 eggs and she did kill another chick before I got back from work.

I took the last chick and put it under a gently hen that has been sitting on eggs for a few weeks. She accepted the new chick with no problems and is a fantastic mum to it.

I took her 3 eggs and put them under my last broody hen.

The nasty mum hen is still very angry!!!!! She is still brooding NOTHING and looks mad as hell!

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Well she hatched out the other 2 eggs and she did kill another chick before I got back from work.

I took the last chick and put it under a gently hen that has been sitting on eggs for a few weeks. She accepted the new chick with no problems and is a fantastic mum to it.

I took her 3 eggs and put them under my last broody hen.

The nasty mum hen is still very angry!!!!! She is still brooding NOTHING and looks mad as hell!

I would give nasty mum hen golf balls and let her sit around jealous of all the good mommys. lol Thats a joke I know nothing on this subject but find this educational

 

[halfwaynowhere]

My bad momma sat on her empty nest for a day or so, but now she's up and about again. I have to keep telling myself that she's not a bad chicken, just a bad momma.

 

[Rlamberth]

My English bantam laid 10 eggs, hatched 5, killed 2, nearly killed another, and I took the rest of her eggs and placed in a make shift incubator. I hopeful that the one I saved lives.. the chicks head was pecked pretty bad and if it lives it'll probably be blind. I have no idea why she did this but I will not allow her to sit again.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hens are poor mathematicians. I know you have seen the term "chicken math" used here. Chicken math is no math or reason at all. So maybe to your hen two live chicks in X amount of time makes sense.

This will get me in a lot of hot water with some people on BYC but chickens only react, they don't think, and they don't reason.
A black hen with 11 white chicks and one black chick is liable to kill the only black chick that looks just like her because it's color is different from the 11 white chicks she just hatched. X The same is true for a white hen with 11 black chicks and only one white chick. Chickens just don't have a sense of self like humans do. We look in a mirror and see ourselves. Chickens who look in the mirror only see a strange new chicken whose place on the pecking order must be sorted out.

Chicken math caries with it the inability to tell time. Hens with new chicks under them get antsy to be about the business of feeding their new children, and Zeus help any chick that is not yet strong enough to follow her. Your hen, my hen, no ones hen comes equipped with an ultra sound machine to scope out un-pipped or pipping eggs. It is much preferable if you can confine the hen and her chicks inside her nest, and keep the nest inside a safe, quite, and very dark but cool place were she should be happy to hover her brood an extra 24 hours or until they are ready to come out into chicken society.

It is also fairly common for hens to kill first pipped chicks and I am going to lay it to the fact that hens don't come equipped with a stop watch or calender and that the hen sees the first chick as an intruder. If the hen is unable to see her brood until they all are hatched out and dry then chicken math kicks in because the hen then can't make heads or tails out of which chick is which. Which brings us full circle back to, why did my hen kill the only off color chick she hatched when it is the same color she is??? "Chickens only react, they don't think, and they don't reason." I already said that didn't I?