Crazy Hatching Story....GOING CRAZY!!!

[carolina chicky]

I am about to go check for more babies....wish me (and them) luck.

 

[monita]

Seperate the hens.... they will kill each others chicks. I agree you should let the one hen take all the eggs. if you seperate them and let the one momma keep all the babies they should be alright. If you still have the problem after seperating them i would not let them hatch anymore.

Good luck with all of your hens and chicks.

 

[Julie08]

Can you watch them and find out who is causing all the damage? It's been going on way to long. I would certainly seperate and keep an eye on them. I think I would even try a make shift incubator, box and heat lamp before letting another baby get its head pecked so severely!

 

[Tap Dancing Chickie]

I vote for the ROOSTER as the bad guy

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is not at all unusual for one hen to try to kill another's chicks. I don't consider them to be a bad mommy since she is protecting her chicks (whether hatched yet or not) from possible competitors. It seems to be instinctive for hens to kill young chicks unless they are broody and the broody hen considers the chicks her own. Some people have broodies hatch together and raise the chicks together without any problem. Some have huge problems, such as yours.

Some roosters can be a problem, but a good rooster will take care of all members of his flock. Not all roosters are good, but in this case I'd bet a lot of your money and a little bit of mine that the rooster is not the problem. One of the hens is, and almost certainly one of the broodies.

I strongly urge you to leave the remaining eggs with one broody and get the other broody hens out of there. Lock them where they cannot get back to the nest or close to the chicks until they are no longer broody. Break them from being broody. This link may help with that.

Break a Broody Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2176186#p2176186

There is another active thread right now about another problem with two broodies being together and something different that can go wrong. It might be interesting.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=341262

Good luck! And sorry for your problems.

 

[carolina chicky]

I appreciate everyone's help on this. I do feel horrible for letting this go on, but I was unsure of what to do and didn't want to cause the hens to leave the nest. I don't think I will let these hens hatch again, mainly because I have wayyyyy more chickens than I planned on having (don't get me wrong, I LOVE all my babies

)
I think I will seperate them and try to break the other broody.
I had a frizzle hen hatch 2 babies 3 days before these hens went broody and she did WONDERFUL at mothering her chicks. Even the Frizzle rooster was great at being a father, so I was hoping for that with these chicks.

 

[carolina chicky]

HELP!!! I just moved one of the broody hens and her eggs to a seperate crate in the garage and she is just making a loud clucking sound and won't sit back on the nest. I know I shouldn't have done it in the middle of the day but I came home today to ANOTHER baby and caught it just in time to stop it from being pecked. There are 6 viable eggs and I am afraid she won't settle back on the nest and they will die. Will she calm down and get back to her eggs or have I made a HUGE mistake??

 

[Julie08]

turn off the lights and leave her alone she should be able to be off for about a half an hour.

 

[carolina chicky]

Okay, thats what I did...whew

this situation is getting the best of me...
I just checked and she is back on the eggs....

Thanks!!

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

Did you put all of the developing eggs under her?