Broody hen killing baby chicks

[Shadrach]

I disagree totally. I’ve had hens kill and maim chicks as soon as they hatch. Perfectly healthy chicks right out of the shell the hen just destroys them. Whenever I’ve had this issue I’ve taken the chicks and either raised them myself or if lucky enough gave them to another hen that would accept them. I then immediately killed the hen. End of story. I’ve had countless less than year old hens hatch all their eggs and raise their chicks just fine than to play around with birds with mental problems.

Let me ask you something. If you free ranged and a hen sat on a clutch in a nest outside and you knew which hen this was but didn't find her nest until after she had killed her chicks, would you still kill that hen?

 

[roosterhavoc]

Let me ask you something. If you free ranged and a hen sat on a clutch in a nest outside and you knew which hen this was but didn't find her nest until after she had killed her chicks, would you still kill that hen?

If I knew she killed the chicks on purpose? Absolutely. That changes nothing. As a matter of fact I had a hen kill chicks at hatch like that before. She was close to molting. I waited til after she molted then killed her so I could use her feathers.

 

[Trux]

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This is a fascinating topic.

Is bad motherhood in a hen a trait such a hen would likely pass thru to those chicks that biologically are hers? If so, I would want to destroy both the hen and her biological chicks, or alternatively separate them all out from the rooster and flock and use them as laying and meat chickens only with no chance to further reproduce. But only her and her genetic chicks. Chicks she may hatch that she has no close biological kinship to I’d see no reason to let her kill.

Will a hen like her kill chicks for the reason they are not hers and she can tell the difference? Or is her instincts just misfiring?

 

[Shadrach]

Okay, fair enough.
I don't rescue chicks here and I don't kill otherwise normal mothers.
The first hen that killed her chicks here I couldn't find until after the event. It was along time ago and I didn't put a great deal of effort into finding her.
The second hatched in a tribes coop and I interrupted her half way through. Two of the chicks were way past assistance, one had no eyes and bits pecked out of her head, the other has a leg missing and what looked to be a broken wing. All bar one of the remaining eggs were damaged in one way or another with one chick half hatched.
I put them all out of their misery as quickly as possible.
Here a chick has to be both healthy and integrated into a group to have any chance of survival. Sick or lone chicks are just predator bait here.

 

[JanetMarie]

I then immediately killed the hen. End of story. I’ve had countless less than year old hens hatch all their eggs and raise their chicks just fine than to play around with birds with mental problems.

Killing your killer broody may have been a mistake, but of course your flock. My story:

A few hens were broody at the same time. At hatching time they all killed their chicks, except for one chick that I managed to save and raised myself. The same broody hens continued to set on nothing for weeks after that. The next year:

They all went broody again at the same time. I gave them another chance, of course knowing I could have the same problem, but no, the previous year's killer broody moms were now the best moms and co-parented the group of chicks together. Since then:

They had chicks every year and were always great moms. The last of those hens alive in her old age had one chick that she continued to protect until that chick was grown and still hang around together until the mom was killed by a hawk.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Killing your killer broody may have been a mistake, but of course your flock. My story:

A few hens were broody at the same time. At hatching time they all killed their chicks, except for one chick that I managed to save and raised myself. The same broody hens continued to set on nothing for weeks after that. The next year:

They all went broody again at the same time. I gave them another chance, of course knowing I could have the same problem, but no, the previous years' killer broody moms were now the best moms and co-parented the group of chicks together. Since then:

They had chicks every year and were always great moms. The last one left in her old age had one chick that she continued to protect until that chick was grown and still hang around together until the mom was killed by a hawk (I think).

Nope the only mistake is allowing multiple broody hens to set on eggs together. They should be separate to avoid those kinds of issues. When I’ve had the issue with hens killing chicks it’s been totally on her. She was separate and by herself with no outside influence like being in a coop with multiple birds bothering her or other hens trying to set on her eggs instead of their own.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Okay, fair enough.
I don't rescue chicks here and I don't kill otherwise normal mothers.
The first hen that killed her chicks here I couldn't find until after the event. It was along time ago and I didn't put a great deal of effort into finding her.
The second hatched in a tribes coop and I interrupted her half way through. Two of the chicks were way past assistance, one had no eyes and bits pecked out of her head, the other has a leg missing and what looked to be a broken wing. All bar one of the remaining eggs were damaged in one way or another with one chick half hatched.
I put them all out of their misery as quickly as possible.
Here a chick has to be both healthy and integrated into a group to have any chance of survival. Sick or lone chicks are just predator bait here.

Both of those instances aren’t the same as the OP described. I have had hens kill chicks with defects before. I still believe the hen knows better than me and can do a better job however not all are up to the task. We’re talking healthy chicks where the hen just has something wrong with her in the head. I see no benefit to keeping a hen that kills healthy chicks. People with these kinds of issues need to think hard about what happened. If they are constantly being harassed by other birds or even interrupted by the owner that is an outside influence that may have caused the problems. There is nothing natural about hens sitting side by side on eggs. Sure it happens and can turn out just fine but usually it doesn’t.

 

[roosterhavoc]

This is a fascinating topic.

Is bad motherhood in a hen a trait such a hen would likely pass thru to those chicks that biologically are hers? If so, I would want to destroy both the hen and her biological chicks, or alternatively separate them all out from the rooster and flock and use them as laying and meat chickens only with no chance to further reproduce. But only her and her genetic chicks. Chicks she may hatch that she has no close biological kinship to I’d see no reason to let her kill.

Will a hen like her kill chicks for the reason they are not hers and she can tell the difference? Or is her instincts just misfiring?

Breeding the offspring from the hen doesn’t guarantee the females will be the same way. I’ve done it and the hens off of them hatched and raised chicks just fine. They wouldn’t be my first choice to breed though.
Hens being able to tell the difference is something I still wonder about. 9 times out of 10 I have hens sitting on eggs that aren’t their own. Multiple colors and they hatch and raise them just fine. This year though I did have a hen with 7 eggs. 5 looked similar and 2 were black. She rejected those 2 blacks after about 3-4 days but was totally fine with the other 5. That’s the only time I’ve seen it so I’m not sure but I think it’s a possibility that some hens know.

 

[chickens really]

None of this is helping the OP and not worth the discussion. We all do for our Birds as we see fit. It's a forum and OP decides what to do..
I Cull sick birds without much hesitation to save them.
Momma problem was a first time Broody and if stressed they will kill Chicks. She probably will be excellent next hatch..