Why would a mother hen try to kill her newly hatched chick???

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memiller123

memiller123

In the Brooder
10 Years
May 3, 2009
80
1
29
My SS became broody a few months ago, so I got 4 fertilized egg from my sister-in-law. Three of those eggs developed. One hatched but my SS started to peck at it and injured it. I removed the chick and I think she will be ok. My SS is really tame, she has been great with the eggs, carefully sitting on them every day. She was great, until the one hatched. This is her first clutch. Why did she try to get rid of the chick??
 
She was probably confused. Can you imagine it being your first time sitting on eggs and some little creature pops out and starts peeping at you? Probably scared the living daylights out of her.
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She'll probably figure it out with time. Don't give up on her just yet.
 
There could have been something wrong with the chick OR the hen just wasn't ready, not all hens are natural mothers. I had a hen hatch out 2 chicks, raised them for 1 week before she tried to kill them. I never let her hatch again. There was nothing wrong with the chicks she was just NUTS. Another incubated and hatched a few call ducklings and killed them as soon as they made it out of the shell. It can be a gamble.
 
Ive got a proven broody mom that successfully raised three clutches of chicks. This time, she flat out rejected them.....just FLAT out. I don't know if she had enough or the heat affected her. So I am stuck with ten chicks down the basement and selling them. I will not let her care for any chicks until next year. If she ends up rejecting the chicks next year, she will be retired from mothering duties permantely.
 
The first 3 chicks were cute and fluffy. The 4th was kind of stuck in the shell, so my husband helped it out. When he went to put it back under her, she pecked it and killed it. The 5th was found pushed out of her nest area, still wet, eyes closed and cold. We now have it inside keeping it warm. She still has 3 more to hatch. Why would she do this? We had to move her into her own elevated coop because somehow the fertilized eggs were disappearing without a trace.
 
If there was more than a day between hatch of the first 3 and of the second 2, she may have rejected them b/c in a natural setting, the laggers would present a lack of safety for the 3 oldest ones. Or perhaps she sensed a weakness in the last 2? Or perhaps she just has "issues".
 

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