Broody eating chicks?

[EagleTheHenpecked]

i have a broody light Brahama hen. today is day 21 for her and she was sitting on 14 eggs. yesterday when i came home from school i noticed that an egg was pushed out of the nest, shell half off and the chick fully developed and dead inside, it stunk though. i disposed of it and left her to her business. this morning i went out there to find her flipping the carcass of a dead chick up in the air and pecking the heck out of it. it looked almost like she was eating it. the broken shell was under her and i removed it. this baby chick did not stink either and again was fully developed. is my broody eating baby chicks when they go to hatch or is something else going on??? has ANYONE ever heard of this before? i also noticed an egg under her that looked like maybe it was pipped, but the shell was inward, like it had been pecked. my coop is 2 feet off of the ground and self contained and too small for rodents to hide. probably just a coincidence, but all of the eggs were white and all of the chicks were black. could my broody be prejudiced against white eggs? i'm really confused, any opinions or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[ilikehorses2]

If you have an incubator, it might be a good idea to move them into it.

 

[EagleTheHenpecked]

I think that's what i'm going to have to do. is there any reason to think that she'd accept the chicks if they do hatch?

 

[ilikehorses2]

Most hens will take anything under there wings. Iv'e seen a hen with goselings before.

 

[stephanie1992]

i would not let her hatch eggs anymore. i had a hen like that and she killed every chick, and even ones i tryed to put under her she killed. I stopped letting her hatch eggs after that.

 

[Amanda Patrick]

yea i had a hen like that, she would try to steal other chicks and try to kill them. i had to place her off by herself

 

[silkiechicken]

Some hens do not make good moms. I would take the eggs or chicks as they hatch and raise them yourself. You can let her try again in the future, but if it were my hen, she'd never get another batch to hatch.

 

[EagleTheHenpecked]

UPDATE:

well i ended up having to go to work and didn't get a chance to put the eggs in the incubator, but the rest of the chicks hatched out with no problems, she is clucking and showing them how to eat and doing other broody things, i guess those chicks she killed must have had something wrong with them because she now has a brood of 9 and is protecting them like a hawk. i'm bewildered, but also glad that she decided that the peeps weren't food after all. i was so mad that i didnt get to put the eggs in the bator, so i just knew during my shift that she was busy killing everything. turns out she didn't, but jeez. i'll never get used to these chicken quirks.