Broody hatching her own eggs, Help?

[silkiefanatic]

Hi all I have 3 silkies that have all just turned a year, Jessie is our broody girl and she is constantly going broody. in December we gave up trying to break her out of brooding because it felt pointless( kept trying to go broody all through November), I thought I did everything right, it was too cold for her and the eggs outside so I brought them in and kept her in a large dog crate in a quiet area, I made sure she had fresh water , a full feed dish and extra "goodies" to try and supplement her nutritional loses. She did great, hatched out 10 babies, 2 passed shortly after their hatch, I honestly didn't think much of it until the next day Jessie had been such a good mom sitting with her babies and guiding them around, no pecking or anything that gave me concern, but on the second day of chicks while I was down doing a little check in Jessie started to "kick" the babies around and hard, she killed all but 2 (the impact against the dog crate is what did them in) who I took away immediately, all this to say she is currently sitting on eggs that should be hatching in 11 days, I have left her in the coop with the other birds since its no longer -30, but I'm wondering what I should do when the chicks hatch? Should I seperate her? And if I should, do I do it before or after the chicks come? Was the crate I used too small? would they be better off in an enclosed part of a room? Was she intending to hurt the babies? Can she be trusted with these guys? My 3 other birds have never cared about new birds being added so should Jessie just stay with everyone ( I thought no but maybe I was reading the wrong stuff????)

Our coop is not the kind where I can make a brooding area either.

Any and all of your wisdom is so so so appreciated, sorry for my 10 billion. questions I just really want to make the right call for all the little ones, thank you for any help you can give!!!

 

[Tonyroo]

Do you want more birds? That's important to know.

 

[silkiefanatic]

Do you want more birds? That's important to know.

Yes were thinking of keeping one or two and we have some friends who all want some as well, so we figured we'd try again, just want to correct any mistakes I made last time !

 

[Tonyroo]

Knowing what she's capable of, might be safer to remove the chicks as they hatch and raise them indoors.

 

[Tonyroo]

Some hens don't make good mothers to there chicks. Just lack of experience and no guidance that she can learn from others.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

When you say "she started to kick the babies around and hard", was she scratching hard at the ground with her feet; and the chicks got in the way of her scratchy feet? If so, that is completely normal broody behavior. It's an instinct to find food for her young'uns, and a broody hen will do this even when there is plenty of chick food in a feeder right in front of her. In fact, some of my broodys will scratch at the chick feeder until the feed is all scratched into the dirt. (A big waste of feed.)

When broodies perform "this scratching for food behavior", any chicks standing behind her immediately go flying through the air. This doesn't hurt the chicks, and they quickly learn to move out of striking distance of her scratching feet. If this is what happened with your broody and her chicks, she definitely didn't mean to hurt or kill them. They simply didn't have enough room to fly through the air and land on the ground before they hit the hard metal cage.

 

[silkiefanatic]

When you say "she started to kick the babies around and hard", was she scratching hard at the ground with her feet; and the chicks got in the way of her scratchy feet? If so, that is completely normal broody behavior. It's an instinct to find food for her young'uns, and a broody hen will do this even when there is plenty of chick food in a feeder right in front of her. In fact, some of my broodys will scratch at the chick feeder until the feed is all scratched into the dirt. (A big waste of feed.)

When broodies perform "this scratching for food behavior", any chicks standing behind her immediately go flying through the air. This doesn't hurt the chicks, and they quickly learn to move out of striking distance of her scratching feet. If this is what happened with your broody and her chicks, she definitely didn't mean to hurt or kill them. They simply didn't have enough room to fly through the air and land on the ground before they hit the hard metal cage.

To me it did seem like she was scratching the ground like when she out free ranging and foraging through the grass, albeit a little rougher then usual. maybe this time ill block off a section of our garage instead? what kind of space do you recommend?