Chick kidnapped by aggressive broody hen. Help

[EggSighted4Life]

Yes it’s 5 weeks old.

Most mums are getting close to booting their babies by that age anyways. The bond is NOT developing further IMO/E

I personally would put blacky in a broody breaker (dog kennel, etc) still in sight of the other 2.. and break broodyness sooner next time.. maybe for both of them.

If they can't successfully hatch more than a single chick.. maybe they shouldn't be allowed to sit especially that long.. it's clearly disrupting the pecking order and causing stress for everyone.. including you.

This is what I’m thinking of doing, but I’ll have to wait until nightfall to get her from the roost. I think she senses what up and she’s not letting me get close to her.

If she's going to roost and not the nest box then she's not broody.. she being a beeyotch.. set her up for daytime timeout still... we call it look but don't touch. It may take several days.

Pin less peepers if she continues to be aggressive after the time out and reintegration.. sounds like a broken flock to me.. probably due to the broodiness that lasted too long and overlapped.. extending the time of disconnect.

Just curios what state or country are you in that has feral roosters?

Hope you find a peaceful resolution!

 

[DragonHorseMan]

Most mums are getting close to booting their babies by that age anyways. The bond is NOT developing further IMO/E

I personally would put blacky in a broody breaker (dog kennel, etc) still in sight of the other 2.. and break broodyness sooner next time.. maybe for both of them.

If they can't successfully hatch more than a single chick.. maybe they shouldn't be allowed to sit especially that long.. it's clearly disrupting the pecking order and causing stress for everyone.. including you.


If she's going to roost and not the nest box then she's not broody.. she being a beeyotch.. set her up for daytime timeout still... we call it look but don't touch. It may take several days.

Pin less peepers if she continues to be aggressive after the time out and reintegration.. sounds like a broken flock to me.. probably due to the broodiness that lasted too long and overlapped.. extending the time of disconnect.

Just curios what state or country are you in that has feral roosters?

Hope you find a peaceful resolution!

I am in Trinidad (Caribbean)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Broody hens are hormonal. When they are hopped up on hormones about anything can happen. While your story at five weeks isn't that common it is not unheard of either. I've had broody hens fight over eggs just as they started hatching. Broodies sometimes fight over chicks, and not always chicks that have just hatched. And it is certainly not just broodies that have been broody for 21 days. I've had broody hens wean their chicks at 3 weeks, I've had some take care of their chicks for over 2 months. There is no telling how soon that hen was going to wean her chick. It is not surprising to me that after sitting on a nest for five weeks that hen tries to adopt a chick.

I think you have several options. At 5 weeks old that chick can take care of itself. I assume you have other flock members, if you have sufficient room it can get along with them on its own. You can leave it with either hen for her to mother as long as she will. You could leave things as they are, the one hen should soon give up and break from being broody pretty soon.

I think you will find that once one breaks from being broody they seem to have no memories of raising specific chicks. They just go back to being chickens. This is whether they wean their chicks or lose them all to a predator. They are prey animals, they are often eating in the wild, so they can handle the loss of individuals pretty quickly.

I don't see any one way as better than the others.

 

[DragonHorseMan]

Most mums are getting close to booting their babies by that age anyways. The bond is NOT developing further IMO/E

I personally would put blacky in a broody breaker (dog kennel, etc) still in sight of the other 2.. and break broodyness sooner next time.. maybe for both of them.

If they can't successfully hatch more than a single chick.. maybe they shouldn't be allowed to sit especially that long.. it's clearly disrupting the pecking order and causing stress for everyone.. including you.


If she's going to roost and not the nest box then she's not broody.. she being a beeyotch.. set her up for daytime timeout still... we call it look but don't touch. It may take several days.

Pin less peepers if she continues to be aggressive after the time out and reintegration.. sounds like a broken flock to me.. probably due to the broodiness that lasted too long and overlapped.. extending the time of disconnect.

Just curios what state or country are you in that has feral roosters?

Hope you find a peaceful resolution!

That was my other thought… that mama would soon be booting Cheeky anyways, but then with this new found “mama” Cheeky will have an overextended mothering, not sure if this would be good for Cheeky.
Thanks so much

 

[BastyPutt]

I have 2 hens (Blackie and Whitey). Blackie is the top of the pecking order and is quite aggressive to Whitey especially at feeding times.

A feral Rooster made its way into my yard and mated with them both. Whitey went broody and hatched one of the fertilized eggs, she then lost interest in hatching the balance of eggs and found a corner of the coop to nest with the chick (aka Cheeky)

The next day Blackie went broody so I put the other eggs under her but after 5 weeks none hatched, so I removed the eggs and buried them.

Blackie remained broody, and then lo and behold she started attacking Whitey and started to separate her from the Cheeky, and has taken over mothering her.

Whitey in the meantime has been trying to take care Cheeky but is being attacked. She looks sad and forlorn.

My question is what should I do?
Should I quarantine Blackie to break the developing bond between her and Cheeky?
Or Should I just let it play out and see what happens in the pecking order?
Whitey looks at a loss, but that may just be my human sensibilities at play, but a part of me feels that motherhood is motherhood no matter the species.

Cheeky is still going to her mother but is being followed by Blackie who is aggressively attacking the mother.

Awaiting your thoughts
Roger

A feral rooster - fighting women and stolen babies - here is my advice....

JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!

Sounds like quite the soap you have there

 

[Poptart3130]

Immediately separate the two, place cheeky with her real hen momma. Wait a few days, place them back together, and see if their behavior has changed. Lol mad hens are trouuuuble!