Broody hen loves eggs but hates chicks.. :(

[riverman]

I've got a broody EE that has been sitting on these eggs for a week or two inside the house, she loves it and stays on them all day. But Friday when the first chick hatched, she started attacking it while it was still hatching. I know that the hen helps the chick out sometimes but she was slinging the egg and baby chick all over the brooder(almost killing it). So I placed the chick in the incubator for a bit to regain some heat and when I put it back in the brooder the hen started pecking it and never nested on it or next to or anything.

Was the hen just tricking me with the broodiness to stay inside during the cold maybe lol, Anybody else have the egg loving/chick hating broody?

 

[Judy]

I have one. She doesn't get eggs to set any more.

 

[Highlander]

I had one too. She met with a sharp end.

 

[hiker125]

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[knjinnm]

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[farmgirlie1031]

I think a few hens are just that way. I have one. I tried a few times thinking the first time might have been an accident since she was broody and was out with all the other chickens in the barn so I didn't know for sure it was her or not that attacked the chicks. The second time I put her and the eggs in an extra large crate and then saw her attacking the chicks after they hatched. I don't let her have any more eggs to sit on. She now just sits on thin air when she is broody. I have a few of her offspring that I hatched in an incubator and her daughters are great momma hens so I guess it is just a weird thing with the one hen.

 

[chickendude]

I had a RIR go broody this past summer. I let her have 4 eggs to hatch. All 4 hatched but she kill the first 2 imidiatly after hatching. I stayed with her for the other 2 and took them inside to my brooder. They are now big and healthy. I'm not sure if she knew the chicks were hers. It was her first and only hatch.

 

[justtoni44]

I had one last year also....
She was only7 months old so am hoping her age may have been the problem.
She was killing them as they hatched and acted like she was in a panic.fear.
I managed to save a few and put them on with another hen who took them no problem.then hatched her own two days later.