chicks dying-is this a bad combination?

[crazy4eggsJulie]

Hi,
we have a crazy hen who steals and sits on everybody else's eggs. Harmless enough...or so I thought. I just keep stealing the eggs when she gets too many. She has been sitting for 6 weeks or so. No chicks, so we assumed they just weren't fertile eggs. All of a sudden...a chick! She has now hatched 4 chicks over 6 days.

The first, from an egg that I believe to be our Sultan's egg literally disappeared. The chick was there. I ran the kids to school. When I came back it was gone! The other hens were crazy curious about the peeping and trying to get in her box. I assume another hen ate it. I seperated mom and eggs from the other hens into a brooder. The first was a light yellow chick. The second from a cochin bantam egg was a black chick. It lived. The third chick was again from the sultan egg and a yellow chick. I found it hanging from mother hen's body, her fluff twisted around it's neck. I had to cut it free with scissors. I then come out to see mom stomping black chick. I put her back in the coop in her nesting box and keep baby inside. Today another yellow chick from a sultan egg. It does not appear to be able to stand. Is this normal?

We only have two roosters 1 black cochin and 1 bantam FRIZZLE cochin. Is the frizzle gene making these chicks have defects and mom is killing them? Or is frizzle and Sultan a bad cross? Any thoughts welcome.

 

[Cetawin]

Is this her first brood? It sounds like she does not know what to do. Not all broodies are good ones...some of them can be psycho moms for sure. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here with advice.

 

[crazy4eggsJulie]

Yes. This is her first time around.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

Maybe you could let her keep hatching them, but get them out from under her and in a brooder ASAP?

Sounds like she is lacking some mothering instincts.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Breeding frizzle to frizzle can cause problems.

ETA: Although it sounds like she doesn't know how to be a mom.

 

[Cetawin]

I still think she is just not sure what to do...with the length of time she was broody and having eggs removed from her and have a hatch over several days late in the brood time, her instincts are way off. You may try her again and if she starts wigging out, have a brooder ready to take the babies from her and raise them yourself.

 

[nzpouter]

feed her first before you move her with the chicks.....

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Take all chicks away from her. If you have an incubator, get it set up and take all eggs as well. This is not a genetic issue (unless mothering instincts are genetic). I have a silkie hen that I cannot let hatch chicks for similar reasons.

I have on occasion found chicks tangled in mama's feathers or fluff--if you do not find this in time the chick can strangle. It doesn't seem to be common, but neither is it unheard of.

If you choose to let her hatch eggs sometime in the future, seperate her from the get-go and do not let her set more than 4-5 weeks (it's actually best to take the eggs and candle them at about a week and a half--toss any that are not developing and re-candle about 5 days later to re-check development.