Broody Hens Injuring Their Own Babies

[jdubs]

Hello all! This will be a little long winded but I need some answers or a little help. I have read many posts on several sites (new & old posts) but I believe we have a slightly stranger issue going on. I need to break it all down so those who read it can understand better.
1st - we had 3 broody hens at one time. #1 was CoCo, #2 Triplet, #3 Rose. I’m unsure of their breeds. Each hen is ONLY 9 months old. CoCo is all black w/ with here & there. Triplet is black & white speckled & Rose is a small white w/ brown on her sides (wings). Now, CoCo started brooding first & was laying on 4 eggs. For the next 3 days, other hens laid more eggs while she sat on her 4. Eventually Triplet jumped into CoCo’s box & laid with her. Next Rose got into her own box that other hens laid eggs in over a few day period.
CoCo remained on her eggs for nearly 2 + weeks & then moved over to Rose’s box all the while Triplet stayed in the box she shared w/ CoCo.
The very next day, Triplet hatched one of CoCo’s original eggs. CoCo took it to her box with Rose.
2 days later CoCo took the baby down & has mothered it since. Now, back to Triplet. The day after baby one came (CoCo’s baby), another hatched. 2 days later I found it dead on the ground & another baby had hatched. I tried giving the baby to CoCo since she was bothering her first but, she kept pecking at its head so we took it & put it in a brooder. As the days went on, more & more babies hatched (approx 4). 2-3 days after, we found 2 of them on the ground with head & eye injuries. Rose eventually hatched 3 babies & brought 2 of them down, but the same day she did, we found one with eye injuries & Rose was back up in her box laying on other unhatched eggs. As of today, 5 more babies have hatched.
We found Triplet & Rose down from their boxes w/ one / two babies near them but, 3 had injuries ... AGAIN!! Both Triplet & Rose are very moody since becoming broody. We are tired of finding the babies they hatch with eye & head injuries.
One of the chics has lost eyesight in both eyes, another in one eye & the 3 that we found today have head injuries (1 died this afternoon).
It’s extremely difficult for me to put them in new boxes when brooding. I don’t want to get pecked ... lol. They seem like they could put a hurtin on me ... ha ha!! I cannot find a situation like this anywhere!!! 3 broody hens, 1 mothering only 1 chic, 2 that keep hatching more chics that we keep finding injured. Finally, we HAVE taken away ALL babies & places them in a brooder. The ones with injuries are in what we call a “hospital brooder” - together. The others are in a brooder with other chicks we took from them over the past 2 weeks that were not injured at the time.
So, 1 momma raising one baby, 4 babies w/ head & eye injuries, 10 babies w/ no injuries, 3 dead, & 2 broody hens sitting in boxes .... oh by the way, I took all eggs that were left in the broody’s beds, candled them & placed them in an incubator.

long winded ... I know ... but, all this just seems very strange. Are they just BAD MOMMAS cause they’re young themselves? Or is this normal behavior? It doesn’t seem normal to me. Any & all help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you to all who can assist!
God Bless,
John ... aka .... jdubs

 

[jdankx]

From my experience a mother hen can peck any chick that isn't hers to death... totally normal but what u can do to help next time you would have more broody hens at the same time is to separate them before they hatch and so they won't peck each other's chicks giving them serious injuries or death.

 

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

I agree....even if the hens are all next to each other sitting on eggs will go after another chick and peck it even if they all hatched at the same time. It also sounds like the right mortality rate for newborn chicks. They are so fragile many people loose a couple even when hatching in a controlled situation like an incubator. Your doing just fine.

 

[jdankx]

And separating them at day time can sometime be rough and some hens won't sit on the eggs again after repositioning so doing it at night is better and be gentle with the eggs because shaking it or any rough handling during candling or moving them can resault injuries and death

 

[Sixandahalfacres]

I would never let a hen be broody and actually hatch out eggs in the coop with the rest of the flock. I make sure to grab my eggs at least daily and then if I I have a broody hen that’s been in the nest boxes at least constantly for a week, I will move her to a separate shed and put eggs under her (at night and I use dishpans in my nest boxes so I can easily move the hen without disturbing her too much). I have had 4 Broody hens at once in the same separate shed (it’s about 8x10, a playhouse my kids don’t use), but I make sure they are all at different stages and I won’t move another one in until the first one is settled really good on HER eggs. I have three right now on eggs and the first just hatched her own eggs (9 babies) and is being a excellent mom. I partitioned off the shed with 18” high plywood so she has a 3’ x 4’ area with her chicks and their own food and water and the other broody hens stay out of the spot she’s in. She can jump over if she wants but the chicks aren’t exposed to the other moms.

This has worked well for me and I haven’t lost any chicks (I’ve hatched over 10 batches this way, this year and last) Co-parenting often leads to squabbles and fights over chicks and chickens are animals - they don’t get emotional over their babies. They will kill an injured or weak one with no issues and no tears. I’ve heard of Bantam hens sometimes Co-sitting and co-parenting,but generally it’s a recipe for disaster. I would separate the hens and give them each some babies, and maybe one hen with any viable eggs yet to try and save them.

 

[Sixandahalfacres]

After about a week I put mama and babies back into the main coop, during the day when the other hens are out and she integrates them back into the flock without any injuries - the other hens respect her and her babies and she raises them for the next month or two!