henzen13
In the Brooder
Hello! I am a new "Mom" to 9 hens and 1 rooster. I got them last May, Rhode Island Reds . This Spring on of my hens went broody soi let her sit on a batch of eggs. Yesterday i went to check on her,as it is close to hatch day. When i opened her box what i thought was her jumped up and almost out of the coop. By instinct i pushed her back in and shut the door quickly. I heard shrieking like ive never heard befor so i opened the door and again she jumped up and almost out, i pushed her back in and shut the door.i then opened the big door to the entire coop and looked through the curtain covering her nest and she was in there eating one of the partially developed eggs. I screamed for my husband to come help and while he was cleaning up the half eaten egg i was watching the flock. I noticed a hen run from the coop being pursued by the rooster who proceeded to to mount and chase her around somewhat aggressively. While my husband was inside washing up i looked onto her box and there was a hen in there eating another partially developed egg, my husband grabbed her up and looked at her and we came to the conclusion she was not the hen sitting on the nest. He put her out of thd coop, we cleaned up the eggs and nest and put the broody henback on her eggs. We then portioned off part of the coop to keep her safe. Why did this happen? Who chased her out of the nest and why did the other hen murder the eggs? Is this normal behavior? How long will i have to keep them separate from the rest of the flock??
