Chickens hatching naturally today, but problems with getting killed

[thedoktorj]

Ok, so I've had 3 broody hens sitting on eggs for right at a month now. Today 3 of them have hatched and I'm expecting more to come. The first one, was laying in front of the nest box chirping like crazy, when I found it, so I went inside to get food and water for them only to come back outside and find one of my hens (not the one that hatched it), carrying it around by the neck in her beak, it was already dead. Two more have hatched, at least one of which I can hear, but not see under one of the broody hens. I only know that 3 have hatched due to 3 fresh broken shells. Can you guys offer any advice on how to prevent more from dying/getting murdered? Should I remove the nest boxes with mothers included to a separate brooder pen tonight when it's dark?
Any help is greatly appreciated. I was so excited to see my first naturally hatched chick, only to find it getting dragged around by the neck 5 minutes later. I want to avoid more dead chicks, if possible.

<edit> Also, I'm not certain if this fits better here or in Raising Baby Chicks, mods can feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place, or I can post in the other forum if that's preferable. </edit>

 

[nchls school]

...

Ok, so I've had 3 broody hens sitting on eggs for right at a month now.  Today 3 of them have hatched and I'm expecting more to come.  The first one, was laying in front of the nest box chirping like crazy, when I found it, so I went inside to get food and water for them only to come back outside and find one of my hens (not the one that hatched it), carrying it around by the neck in her beak, it was already dead.  Two more have hatched, at least one of which I can hear, but not see under one of the broody hens.  I only know that 3 have hatched due to 3 fresh broken shells.  Can you guys offer any advice on how to prevent more from dying/getting murdered?  Should I remove the nest boxes with mothers included to a separate brooder pen tonight when it's dark? 
Any help is greatly appreciated.  I was so excited to see my first naturally hatched chick, only to find it getting dragged around by the neck 5 minutes later.  I want to avoid more dead chicks, if possible. 
[/quote

It would be better to remove the other hens instead of those that are broody depending on how many hens you have. You would only need to remove them until the hatch is complete and hens and chicks can be moved to safety. Moving a broody hen on eggs can be disastrous as the hen may abandon the eggs. If you can't move the other hens is there a way to "fence in" the broodies?

 

[thedoktorj]

Well, I could just close off the hen house and kick the rest out for a day or two. I can set up a makeshift roost under the hen house for the others, in the mean time.

 

[thedoktorj]

To clarify, I have 3 broody hens, 8 non-broody, and 2 roosters. It would be difficult to move the rest of the flock to another location and I really don't know where I'd put them.

 

[nchls school]

Well, I could just close off the hen house and kick the rest out for a day or two.  I can set up a makeshift roost under the hen house for the others, in the mean time.

If that would be safe from predators, that is what I would do. How about egg laying?

 

[thedoktorj]

Yes, it should be safe. I have netting over the entire area and the fencing is a combination of 14 awg 2x4 fencing doubled up with Chicken wire on the inside and buried 6 inches. So far, I've never had any predators penetrate it. I will try to throw something together for the other layers, but in the few weeks before I completed my nest boxes, they seemed ok with laying in low spots on the ground. They may have to be ok with that for a day or two, if I can't put something together before it gets dark.

 

[nchls school]

To clarify, I have 3 broody hens, 8 non-broody, and 2 roosters.  It would be difficult to move the rest of the flock to another location and I really don't know where I'd put them. 

Can the broody nests be fenced off from the rest? I don't want you to end up with dead and unhatched dead in the shell chicks and that is a very possible outcome should you move those broody hens now.

 

[thedoktorj]

Can the broody nests be fenced off from the rest? I don't want you to end up with dead and unhatched dead in the shell chicks and that is a very possible outcome should you move those broody hens now.

Unfortunately, I used the rest of the fencing that I had making tomato cages and can't get any more at the moment. I think the rest of the flock will be safe for a couple days under the coop, I am going to proceed with that before it gets dark. Thanks.

 

[nchls school]

Good luck.

 

[thedoktorj]

Thanks for your help, I was able to put together some temporary nest boxes with some scrap lumber, ran all the other hens and roosters out of the hen house and set them up a temporary roost. I'm glad I did too, because when I went back out there, one of the roosters was inside one of the nest boxes attempting to push eggs out of it, while the hen that's been sitting on them was running in circles freaking out. I ran it off before it could complete it's evil plans. The broody girls should be good to go until they finish hatching. I'll update tomorrow with the results.