Broody ate babies?

[LegbarMama]

My broody ate a 17 days old embryo, there was blood and chick feathers everywhere all over the other eggs.

That's so sad did she still hatch the rest of the eggs?

 

[The Coop Crew]

Lucky me, another hen has become broody we made a crate for her so hopefully this ends up better. I've had chickens for 4 years and never had a broody, now I've had 2 in one month lol

Well you’re just getting all the broody mamas at once
Good luck

 

[McChooky]

Lucky me, another hen has become broody we made a crate for her so hopefully this ends up better. I've had chickens for 4 years and never had a broody, now I've had 2 in one month lol

If her crate has hardware cloth all over it the rats can't get in.
Thats the problem with having a barn ,rats live in them

 

[Altairsky]

That's so sad did she still hatch the rest of the eggs?

Yes, she's the perfect mother now.
She was hungry and she didn't want to leave the nest so she ate one of her eggs. After this episode I gave her food and drink in her nest box and she didn't eat any other egg.

 

[McChooky]

Yes, she's the perfect mother now.
She was hungry and she didn't want to leave the nest so she ate one of her eggs. After this episode I gave her food and drink in her nest box and she didn't eat any other egg.

That was one way to draw attention!

 

[Magpiezoe]

If it were a raccoon, she would be killed too. Skunk can be egg thieves, but they would have to get her off the eggs.

 

[McChooky]

I don't know of your chickens have a run or not but if they do you could attach a coop for broody hens and their babies .I have a 4 x 4 coop I can use as extra space until one of mine go broody .I can also divide my run and separate the chicks and hens from the flock.Having a self sustaining flock requires coops and runs for the growing chicks so nothing eats them.They don't just eat them at the egg stage sorry!

 

[Yardmom]

We had a similar incident.. two chicken mother sat and hatched ducklings (same day). No eggs disappeared, but all the ducklings disappeared the first night. They were in a fence with 2 inch squares (tighter at the bottom to prevent reaching in) and a game cam. So we know it wasn't a coon or similar predator. The only thing we could think of was a rat had been spotted about a month before that. We shut the new hatches in tighter and no older chicks or ducklings disappeared.

 

[Fussy]

whe

Yes unfortunately she went broody in our barn which ain't closed up like our coop is at night. So that could be, but I wasn't sure if that would be the case since all the other chickens seem completely fine and we haven't had any raccoon problems in a long time. Also the mama is walking around like nothing happened. I would think she would be upset

When my hens brood in an unprotected area I place va 2 foot square made from hardware clothe over them, i place a heavy brick or cinderblock on top. i have to check on her often.

 

[Muffett]

The last time I checked was 2 days ago. They were all there and I candled them and they were all alive still

Aww so sorry!