Oh no! New broody mama is trying to kill her chicks. Now what?

[Cerise1924]

Lemondrop the Orpington has been the most dedicated broody imaginable, not leaving the nest box at all. I've hand fed her the last three weeks.

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Lemondrop the Orpington has been the most dedicated broody imaginable, not leaving the nest box at all. I've hand fed her the last three weeks.

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Take them as they hatch. Time consuming and aggravating but if you want to keep the chicks that’s the best way. You’ll probably end up having to raise them yourself.

 

[kissezmychicken]

I had a hen do the same thing.. I took the babies one by one as they started hatching.. If she even saw or felt them move around she killed them.. Very strange

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Sometimes they just aren't meant to be good mothers. As a kid I had two rabbits which I thought were both males, well..... you know the rest. Came home from school one afternoon and saw Momma Rabbit munching on her babies! Scarred me for life!

 

[ColtHandorf]

While not extremely common it can happen. I'd recommend pulling the chicks. Sometimes first-time moms are completely baffled by the little aliens coming out of the eggs she's been mothering for three weeks. So she might figure it out, but usually I won't let them go broody again if they are attacking or killing their chicks.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Chicks are amazingly easy to raise on their own, I would suggest pulling the chicks out as they hatch, better than losing any of them. Next year the same hen could be the greatest mom ever, or even two or three chicks hatched from now and be a great mother. I always have a number of hens setting and I end up generally with one or two hens taking most all babies in. As I get hens that are robbed of babies I will move one to another building or pen and give her problem babies to adopt and raise. I have a hen in the house right now who had all of her babies stolen by another hen so we broguht her in the house and set her up in a pen and we have been taking all the problem babies in to her. She is up to six babies now and one happy "very protective" momma...