Broody hen hatching woes

[cloverleaf]

Hello everyone, I hope hatching season is going well for you all! For me, not so much. My hens suck at their jobs I had 6 broody hens. One already hatched hers and they're a couple months old and doing great. The rest of them, have failed miserably. One of them hatched her out, and crushed half of the chicks. Not even in the nest, she'd be outside scratching, and would just scratch right over her chicks. She killed a couple like this. Finally, she walked them through 3 inches of water, so I took the remaining chicks. Two other hens gave up on their nests before they hatched. The remaining two have crushed so many eggs, I don't think any will be left come hatching day. This is my chickens first season hatching, is it normal for them to suck this bad? What is going on???

 

[sumi]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven't had any such problems with my hens yet (touch wood). Maybe you should just incubate them yourself if you want chicks? Or give them to the first mom. At least she did good!

 

[spikennipper]

Hi, if it's their first hatching season their inexperience doesn't help, though some birds are great whether they have experience or not, I have a Rhode Island red which is a breed that doesn't often go broody kill the majority of her first hatch whilst sitting as she smothered them when they were hatching, then I have a light Sussex who is a great mum from the start, have also had pekins who were very good, what breed are your chickens? I think some breeds are better than others but it also depends on the bird as they are all different but generally I think the most broody breeds such as pekins/cochins, silkies etc prob make the best mums.