Anyone know why this may have happened to hours old chick??

[Lokale90]

Chick hatched yesterday. I left hen & new baby chick in the coop after first discovering she had hatched. I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to move them while it was still wet & the strong winds had such a chill to them yesterday. I went back to check later & 1 of the eyes looked like this. Could this be from my hen pecking at it to get back under her? I saw her do that, so i don’t know if she got it’s eye one of the times.

 

[coach723]

Usually the hen will call the chicks back under her, not peck them. If she senses something wrong, she may peck a chick. Or if she's just not a good mom. It bears careful watching, to see, you may need to separate the chick if she's pecking it. I would use some veterycin and a Qtip to clean it up, and apply some terramycin eye ointment (many tractor supply stores carry it) or plain neosporin or plain triple antibiotic ointment to it. It's ok if it gets in the eye. Hopefully it's not the eye itself that's been injured.

 

[pginsber]

Chick hatched yesterday. I left hen & new baby chick in the coop after first discovering she had hatched. I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to move them while it was still wet & the strong winds had such a chill to them yesterday. I went back to check later & 1 of the eyes looked like this. Could this be from my hen pecking at it to get back under her? I saw her do that, so i don’t know if she got it’s eye one of the times.

Hi-congrats on the chick!
Is she a first time broody?
Typically, they don’t peck the chick to get under, they call it or take their beak and nudge/roll it under themselves.
I agree with your assessment that it looks like an eye peck though. If mom did peck it, maybe there was something on it’s eye or who knows—we can only guess.
do you plan to leave the chick with mom and check on it in a few days?

 

[Lokale90]

She is! This is the first chick she’s ever hatched. It didn’t seem like a hard peck but it definitely wasn’t like a little nudge they do to move the eggs back under them. I do plan on separating hen & baby from the rest for the time being. We’re kind of in a weird situation right now. She has a total of 3 under her, laid at different times but assuming within a couple days apart. I’m still pretty new to owning chickens, so little mistakes were made that could have prevented this situation we are now in. The hen is still sitting on the other 2 eggs & hatched chick as well.

 

[coach723]

As long as she's not picking on it, it's OK. But I would keep watch. First time broodies can be unpredictable. Having staggered hatches are also problematic, so it's best to try to have her sit on all the same start day. She may get up before they are done, in some cases. Good luck.