Broody hen killed newly hatched chick?

[sarajane]

I took all but one away. I had a friend with a nice broody who hatched them. But with only one egg left she kept wandering off the nest so the egg wasn't viable. Once I took that she's been acting a little crazy/confused. I just found her today eating an egg which she had never done before this. I don't know what to do with her

 

[hollycs]

So frustrating. I took three away from her. I hatched two myself, and the other one never did hatch. One of the chicks I hatched died which leaves me with one lonely little chick I want to buy her a buddy, but I can't find anyone near me with baby chicks. They are all a few months old.

She was eating the eggs too. She had never done that before either. I don't understand why she would sit faithfully on the eggs for 21 days and then kill them as they hatch.

 

[sarajane]

I've decided some chickens are just a little too primal. Or stressed. Mine is stressed. I think the roo is bullying her.

 

[mournlight]

I have one hen who isn't right in the head. She will kill the chicks everytime they hatch. I now let her sit on them until they are hatching, and remove them as soon as they hatch. I use a streamlight rechargeable light and shine on the egg while it is still under her, and can see when they are about to hatch. Then, I check every 4-6 hours. She killed all chicks as they hatched two different times. She is also a bully to the other hens.
The little streamlights are good candlers.

 

[jools2014]

Buff Orpington's are coming up a lot as chick killers-is that just a coincidence? I know they are used a lot because they are the broody type, but so are other types like Silkies but almost everyone who has had dead chicks has had broody Buff orpingtons?

It's just happened to me as well-2 broody Buffs sat in the same box on 4 eggs (probably a mistake to have 2 sitting in the same place now I realise although lots have said they've had no problems with 2 broodies). All was going great, one chick had pipped late on hatch day and I could hear chirping. I left them overnight. The broodies were still sat in the morning, not wanting to disturb them I waited until later to check. I heard no chirping and saw no chicks when I looked in the morning, so I think it happened during the night in which case I'm sure it was the broodies. When I checked in the afternoon there was just one egg left and a couple of bits of shell (not enough to be from 3 eggs). Later on I found one dead chick, it looked squashed but had obviously been sat on for quite some time. I couldn't tell any injuries, there was no blood that I could see. No idea what happened to the other 2 eggs-they disappeared. The one remaining egg turned out to be bad.

If it wasn't the broodies I can only think it was one of the other hens/rooster or rats got it and killed/took the chicks when the broodies briefly came off the nest during the day. I wish I knew if it was the broodies or not but I guess I'll never know.

When a broody is sat on her newly hatched eggs can you see/hear them? I couldn't see or hear anything like I said but it was early in the morning, maybe the chick/s were asleep. Are they literally right under their mother so you can't see them? Or do you think if the chick/s were alive in the morning I'd see/hear them? This was my first hatch so I'm unsure what exactly happens.

 

[enola]

A GOOD broody will not leave the nest after chicks start hatching; until she takes the chicks off the nest.

If there are rats in the coop, they will rob the nest at night. They are very sneaky!

Not all broodies will make good mothers, as the previous posts showed. My theory is that hatchery bred hens may be MANY generations away from having been broody hatched. Good broodies come from generations of good broodies.

 

[AmericanMom]

Broody's that kill the chicks and then turn into egg eaters are eaten themselves, I wouldn't use her nor hatch any of her eggs. She can and will pass that gene on...

If the hen is young I would give it one more chance, I had a 6 month old Cukoo Maran sat 18 days and I found the chick dead outside the nest still in the shell, I am pretty sure she killed it but cannot say 100% so I took her eggs, hatched them myself and she went to broody break up camp... I tagged her and I know which eggs she lays, I will give her one more chance but I wont hatch any of her eggs.

 

[enola]

I agree 100%.

 

[jools2014]

I wish I knew if it happened in the night, then I'd be almost 100% it was the broodies. I'm pretty sure no rats can get in during the night-they only go in during the day when the door is left open. In any case, wouldn't the mommas be right on them at night so a rat/the other chickens wouldn't be able to get them?

Only finding one chick it's difficult to say what happened, the other 2 eggs just disappeared. I would definitely not have 2 broodies again, trouble is I don't know which one killed the chicks or if it was both. But they are sisters, so if one's likely to do it, the other probably is too. Both hens are around a year old and it's their first hatch. Well second time I've had them sit on eggs-right before this one I had them on 3 eggs, one got broken early (by me), then on day 17 one was cracked with blood coming out of it, and the other egg again just disappeared! It's very odd, not knowing what happened is frustrating.

They were sitting on their own eggs the last time, but since that failed I kept them sitting and they sat on another hens eggs. I would definitely not try again, not going to think about it until next spring now anyway. They are the only 2 broodies I have, I'd buy day old chicks next time and give them to one of them and watch it very closely.

I am sorry others have had this experience too, it is really awful when you hear little chirps and look forward to babies to later find nothing, or dead chicks!

 

[enola]

If the same thing happened before, you very likely have a hen who is eating her chicks as they hatch. And cleaning up the shells afterward.

She would be in my stewpot if she lived here.........sorry..........