Broody Hen Killed her Chicks?

[lulubell15]

Can chickens raise their own broods? Absolutely, and do a fabulous job. So good in fact, that I stopped heat lamp raising after burning a coop down and went solely with hen raising.

But not all hens make good mothers.

However, before assuming your hen killed the chicks herself, I have a question to ask? Is this a communal nest that she used to hatch the chicks. The only time I've had good hatchings to find dead chicks under a broody hen was when the hen was in a communal nest. I inadvertently watched one day as another hen came into the nest to lay and saw momma trying to hunker down, refusing to budge off her chicks. The result is dead chicks as the weight of both hens came bearing down upon them either suffocating or crushing them.

Another option with larger hens is that simply getting in and out of the nest they kill chicks by stepping on them.

Look at the bodies (if you can still). Are they simply dead with no visible trauma? Or is there some sort of trauma visible...a broken rib, squished appearance, bloody head? If a hen is killing her own chicks, she may throw them against something and you find the chicks flung away. Or, they peck their heads.

Also consider genetic problems or bacterial. Do the chicks have swollen legs and abdomens? If somehow the nest was especially soiled, they can contract bacterial infections in their abdomens freshly after hatch, especially if their navals were not fully closed. You will see a bit more of that under a broody where conditions are distinctly not sanitary. However, I've done a lot of broody hatches, and I've only had a couple of omphalitis cases, and both were in rare breeds with open navals, so I suspicion genetic weakneess or malformation as well.

And finally, if they simply were dead, even huddled together in the middle of the nest, and you have cool weather, mom may have gotten up and forgotten to keep them warm. If it wasn't clear where mom went, or not easy for the chicks to follow her out of the nest box, the chicks could conceivably try to huddle together and have succumbed to chilling.

I'm sorry to hear your hen has had such a poor result with her hatchlings, but it will take some investigation to determine if it was a bad mother, bad mothering, or simply a bad location.

LofMc

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Lady nailed it out of the park folks. The chicks were in perfect health. I've raised 50+ chickens from chicks. Just never had a hen be so broody before. I surround myself with nature, and I ASSUMED that a mother hen would feed her chicks the way all other birds do - but they do not. Each of those chicks died because of my ignorance. They just needed water and food nearby. :'(

Not all birds bring food back to the nest for their young. The only birds that do this, hatch young that cannot leave the nest, such as hawks and song birds. Chickens, ducks, geese, swans, turkeys... these are all birds that hatch young that are fully capable of following their parents most places within a day out of the shell. They follow their parent(s) to food and learn from them what's good to eat, but otherwise, they feed themselves. That's why if you go online you'll see all kinds of videos of momma ducks walking across a street to water with a line of ducklings behind her... She's going from the nest to a place to feed and raise her young.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chicks were sick.

I agree with centrarchid. Sick, weak, or else too inbred.

Also when hatching eggs under hens, a large nest is a hindrance. If another hen can get to or in the nest it sparks fights and dead chicks is the result.

 

[DuckPro]

Maybe cold weather?

 

[Pollmadoll]

I'm sorry to hear this has happened. I was in the same boat and posted a similar question last week! Broodies can indeed raise chicks very successfully (I have done it before). However, as BYCers taught me, apparently some broodies do not make good moms. Do you think you can find some chicks to keep your remaining one company?

Sadly I have just gone through this with one chick that hatched perfectly this am with a detached aircell. I stupidly introduced it this am to our broody and have just returned from work to find she had killed it?!

 

[chickchicklife]

I also had that problem last year, I had 2 broody hens and we let them handle the eggs but the one of the hens had killed her chicks minutes after hatching, assuming she would keep doing the same we decided to move the eggs to the other broody hen who gave us 10 little chicks, 5 roosters and 5 hens.

 

[sissyfarmer]

I also had that problem last year, I had 2 broody hens and we let them handle the eggs but the one of the hens had killed her chicks minutes after hatching, assuming she would keep doing the same we decided to move the eggs to the other broody hen who gave us 10 little chicks, 5 roosters and 5 hens.

i have a broody hen who has successfully hatched 7 chicks, and one by one i found them dead, all but two even before they had dried off from hatching… i’m fairly certain at this point that the hen sees them as intruders once they hatch out and kills them, defending her nest… like she has no idea what chicks are…