Chicks ripped apart. Hen eating her young?

[Chickenmaven]

We think that maybe some bird used their beak to open the door, even though it was barricaded with a board. Then, (perhaps?), the door was shut again by the ensuing scramble. This experience was really horrible, what with my daughter witnessing the chick being ripped apart.

Since we still are not sure whether a flock member is Harry Houdini or if Mama is opening a hard to open door, what we ended up doing was placing the remaining chicks with another (larger) hen who hatched chicks on the same day. The mama whose chicks we took was sooo sad. She cried & cried. I feel terrible, but know she cannot protect her chicks & the area that I felt was secure has big "issues".

We are praying not to lose any more chicks. What a terrible day!

 

[brandywine]

She'd be better off out with the flock with her babies.

Then she could protect the chicks from them; locked up inside a sub-coop, she can't.

I kept my broody and her hatchlings completely separated for a week, then integrated them totally. The broody is a total beyotch on wheels to some of the other hens, but nobody so much as looks at the peeps.

They are now three weeks old, have been ranging with Momma for two weeks, no chick losses, no attacks on chicks, and the little boogers are getting ready to start joining the rest of the flock on the roost.

 

[cluckingcanadian]

Quote:
I agree with this. Once my mother hen left her nest I gave her two days by herself with the chicks. On the third day I did two supervised visits with the flock, where some minor issues were worked out. On the fourth day, mama hen and her chicks were completely back with the flock. My chicks and mama were outside, free ranging, on day 5. All mama hen had to do was put 2-3 hens in line (about her chicks) and now they are completely left alone.

Good luck.

 

[basicliving]

I may err on the side of caution, but I keep my broodies and their chicks separated for 2 weeks, before allowing them to start integrating with the flock. The biggest reason is because the mamas are evil beyond words the first week. They attach everyone that comes in the coop - and the babies get scattered in the rumble and I worry they will get hurt.

Since you know your flock is eating the babies, I would really recommend giving it at least a couple of weeks before carefully integrating them. The babies will grow a lot in 2 weeks. You may also want to consider whether the flock can pull the babies out through the chicken wire, or if the babies can squeeze through it to get out. They can get through amazingly small openings when that young. Maybe you could replace/reinforce the chicken wire with hardware cloth or something similar?

Do you have a picture of this brooder? It sounds really cool, by the way.

Penny

 

[chickenfever]

Hi there all, I know I'm kinda hijacking, but I found this post when I was searching and this is exactly the kind of info I am looking for. For those of you who have integrated chicks and mama with the rest of the flock, how do you work out the food situation. Chick starter and layer feed?

 

[bobhoke]

We had 10 kicked chicks this morning with one easter egger getting ready to be #11. Our brooder is locked tight too and when I came back at noon the egg shell was in front of the nest and there was only 10 chicks still. I am sure a hen is digesting it now. There is absolutely no mess here either, but that definitely should have been #11. I have counted 5 times and scoured every inch of that chicken prison and its just gone. Based on their past hatch rate and the fact that we were only seeing the beak when I left it should have been still wet and flopping on the pine chips still. Something got it, and it could only have been a hen!

 

[crazychicken5]

my broody hen broke and ate an egg that had two days left to hatching, she ate the yolk but not the chick. why?

 

[bobhoke]

Well, who really knows, but they will eat anything. When I harvest my roosters the hens sit at my feet waiting for body part scraps to eat. I have had one chick disappear completely after it hatched - poof gone. This was in the winter. The only place it could have gone was in their belly. Chickens will be chickens - chicken math. Try an incubator. I'm sticken with the chicken though.

 

[CreoleChick18]

My hen and her eggs were in a hutch. She hatched one beautiful chick with 5 eggs waiting. The next day the food dish was toppled and 2 eggs were missing. We replaced the food and water.
A day later, the chick and remaining eggs were gone. She ate everything. I'm afraid she may become an egg eater. Can this be prevented in the future?

 

[DixieLW]

I keep finding egg shells but no babies in the nest! Third time so far. Either she is eating them or something else is.