Broody hatching

[skeleroo]

I've got a barred rock who is sitting on eggs. This is her second batch of chicks. Shes a terrible mum and abandoned her last batch at two weeks old but I figured I'd let her give it a go again when she started sitting.

Its hatch day and I was excited to hear peeping this morning. She had gotten up to get a drink and I could see all of the eggs had pipped. She came back to the nest and was very agitated but I didn't pay her any mind and went about my business in the barn. A while later in the breeze way I saw a shell and a dead chick laying next to it.

Why would she have knocked the egg out of the nest and killed the chick? There was no other animal in the barn at the time and she was fooling with the eggs after her drink so I'm almost positive it was her.

Are the other eggs in danger? Should I pop them in the incubator? I have another mum with 5 day old chicks, should I hatch them and try to slide the chicks under her?

 

[Valhalla Acres]

I wouldn't try to slide the eggs with the other mum. I tried that once and the mother attacked the other chicks. Everyone was ok but I wouldn't risk trying it again. If I had the hen then I would take her eggs away and pop them in the incubator but that's just me.

 

[alexa009]

I agree, if you couldn't trust her with that chick then I definitely wouldn't give her a chance on the others. Some broodies make terrible mothers such as pecking their chicks and abandoning them during mid incubation which is a reason especially not to let her raise them.