Bad habit.

[chicknmania]

Snap has developed a very bad habit. When she finds a setting hen (chicken hen) and she can easily access her, she will take every opportunity to sit and stare at the hen, terrorizing her til she flies off the nest. Then she eats the developing eggs.

Just recently she did this to my sweet old Silkie hen Izzy Lou, and ate all of her six eggs. She seems to do this most to hens that look "funny"..different from the others...the Silkie, and she always terrrorizes our Ameracauna hen whenever she can. It took me a while to figure out what is going on. It seems that she has learned that she is not supposed to do this, because she will no longer do it when I'm anywhere near, because I chase her away, of course. And I've see her run away a couple of times as I've approached from a distance, which is kind of funny, actually, she's like a naughty child.

It's not a huge big deal, because we are about full up anyway, with chickens, but I was hoping that Izzy Lou would have some more babies, she's the best mama we have, and I feel sorry for her that she lost all hers.. Short of confining Snap, or getting rid of her, or moving the broody to a safer place, which are obvious solutions, I wonder if it's possible to discourage Snap from doing this by putting some eggs in Izzy Lou's now-empty nest, that would taste bad, or maybe just fake eggs? What could I use that would taste bad to her, but still be safe?

 

[zazouse]

Put something around the hen that she can get threw but the peahen can not, like a pallet

this is how i start letting my babies out of the brooder that way the bigger birds can not get to them if they are trying to give them a hard time till they are integrated with the rest of the free rangers.

Once a hen hatches out chickens you may have problems with the peafowl harassing her once she bows-up to the peafowl for looking at her baby's, so you might wanna be ready for that.

 

[zazouse]

PS a bird of any kind will eat a broken egg, when a peafowl give a chicken hen a hard time on the nest eggs get broken, at my place when some broody hens come off the nest for a break clucking like a broody they will start eye balling her and some times they will go after a broody clucking hen, they can get away and my chicken hens have learned to hide their nest where peas can not reach them. younger broody hens learn the hard way their first year of trying to sit. but they do learn

 

[chicknmania]

We have a few broodies that do hide their nests, and we have some nest boxes that are difficult for the peahens to stick their heads in. those are the ones that hatch. Our chicks and their mothers are never allowed to mingle with the flock until they are five to six weeks old. Before then, they are in a pen with their mother or on nice days they go out in the chicken tractor during the day. It protects them and gives the mother a break from stress, and being harassed by the others, plus it allows them to acclimate to the flock, and vice versa, gradually. It works well. Its funny because when the hen and her chickies go out in the tractor on nice days, they frequently are visited by our peacocks, who don't harass them, but they will lie down outside the tractor on the grass, and stay for several hours sometimes. I think in their minds they are protecting those chicks. And really, they may be. And the mother hen doesn't seem to mind. It's just the peahens (and basically just Snap) who is a problem.

I'll try to find a crate or a wide spaced pallet or something to use next time, thanks for the idea.