Broody Hen Thread!

[Jharper]

I'm so sorry to pop in on this thread, but since it's about broodies I thought it would be a good place to put my problem....

its copied from a thread I just started, but need a super quick answer so, again, sorry...

I need to know ASAP...It's dusk and I have to know whether close this mama out or give her back her baby!!

My Wyandotte is a first time mom and her only egg hatched today... we checked earlier and noticed she was pecking at it. I've seen moms do this before and thought not much of it. But after a couple hours we went again and she was viciously pecking it...,I mean going out of her way reaching way under and around to peck it. I've only had silkies as moms before and NEVER seen this. Is it a Wyandotte thing? Should I let her keep it?

Do you think she is going to kill it?

Until I get an answer the baby is with a silkie whose other baby hatched today. She lovingly took it on just now. 

Thanks in advance!!

I would place it back out there with her and watch if she is trying to kill it take it away from her ASAP!

 

[my4ladies]

Good idea. Thanks! I 'll give her one more chance. BRB!

 

[my4ladies]

I put the baby in there, and again, she reached under and pecked at her. I've seen them "reprimand" their babies, and it looks kind of like that's what she's doing... but she just doesn't stop! She's in a metal dog crate, and the baby ended up outside of it...and mama just kept pecking at it. So I grabbed baby and put her back with the silkie and locked them in incase Wyandotte decides to attack.

Man o man... I didn't expect this at all!!

 

[el pollo rey]

I'm so sorry to pop in on this thread, but since it's about broodies I thought it would be a good place to put my problem....

its copied from a thread I just started, but need a super quick answer so, again, sorry...

I need to know ASAP...It's dusk and I have to know whether close this mama out or give her back her baby!!

My Wyandotte is a first time mom and her only egg hatched today... we checked earlier and noticed she was pecking at it. I've seen moms do this before and thought not much of it. But after a couple hours we went again and she was viciously pecking it...,I mean going out of her way reaching way under and around to peck it. I've only had silkies as moms before and NEVER seen this. Is it a Wyandotte thing? Should I let her keep it?

Do you think she is going to kill it?

Until I get an answer the baby is with a silkie whose other baby hatched today. She lovingly took it on just now.

Thanks in advance!!

there are no better mom than a sikie let her keep it or move them all to a brooder

 

[Jharper]

there are no better mom than a sikie let her keep it or move them all to a brooder

That sounds like a good ideal, too.

 

[CaCO3]

I have 5 w/o orp x fav crosses outside with the 2 broodies who hatched them - 1 Cochin bantam and a silkie. There is one chick that has got to be a male for sure. He has started attacking the silkie hen. He takes her on in the typical chick roughhouse play but today he was biting her an ripping out feathers. Then the Cochin bantam started to turn on her at times too, sort of like how hens go after each other if one squats. It's weird. The chicks seem to submit to the Cochin but only a couple still look to the silkie as mom. The broodies had 3 each. It's weird I've never seen such a bratty chick. He's the only one who is doing this to her. I feel like she is getting the boot by the group although they need her when its night time to keep everyone warm.

 

[Bush Chickens]

How concerned should I be about a porous egg under a broody?Will it hatch weak? It is a very thick shelled egg,will it be able to hatch at all?

 

[melina90]

How concerned should I be about a porous egg under a broody?Will it hatch weak? It is a very thick shelled egg,will it be able to hatch at all?

Don't worry. It could hatch, it could not. Try keeping your nerves in check, and let broody-momma do her job. She's good at it. When you get to day 22-23 and still nothing, you can go out at night and candle the egg to consider if it needs assisting. I had to assist on one of my broodies egg, and the babychick was fine - back out with his mommy right after hatching

 

[melina90]

Yesterday I added another day-old chick to my broodyhens. They are two hens sharing the clutch, and with the new one they had 6 little ones - the oldest is 9 days and the youngest before the day-old was two days. All working good, until I saw the youngest one getting beat up really badly by both the momma-hens! They pecked it constantly, and even picked it up and threw it around! Needless to say, I couldn't take it. I took the little one inside, and I'll brood her myself with a heatlamp. There's a clutch of hedemora's hatching in two weeks, so she'll have them as company.

Any ideas to why this little one wasn't accepted by the rest? She survived the night out with them, but now that they were out eating and running around she was really taking some donuts... Was there a too big agedifference between this one and the others? I mean, they are nice to the one that is only a day older...

 

[melina90]

I have 5 w/o orp x fav crosses outside with the 2 broodies who hatched them - 1 Cochin bantam and a silkie. There is one chick that has got to be a male for sure. He has started attacking the silkie hen. He takes her on in the typical chick roughhouse play but today he was biting her an ripping out feathers. Then the Cochin bantam started to turn on her at times too, sort of like how hens go after each other if one squats. It's weird. The chicks seem to submit to the Cochin but only a couple still look to the silkie as mom. The broodies had 3 each. It's weird I've never seen such a bratty chick. He's the only one who is doing this to her. I feel like she is getting the boot by the group although they need her when its night time to keep everyone warm.

That's exactly what happened in my coop - a silkie and a cochin bantam went broodie together, lol. In my group the cochin seems to be the favourite mom too, but haven't seen any bratty behaviour yet. Maybe you can separate the silkie with a few of the calmer chicks and let the cochin take care of the others by herself?