Depressed hen.. Devastating situation

[Chickenny]

So the long story not so long is, we had 4 broody hens, that had a couple fertile eggs each. We decided to let them hatch together and Co raise the chicks. All was well till the end of the 21 days, and chicks started to hatch. We woke up to a chick pecked to death and a rejected egg, as the hens fought over the chicks. We took the remaining two live chicks plus one egg and made a brood inside. The chick in the egg did not live after a very long assisted hatch. After that ordeal my husband decided that 3 of the hens must go. We kept one (named sweat pea) because she is the sweetest most gentle hen. (we also have 2 two young chickens, one pullets and a roo, they have yet to become too cozy with the other chickens but all get along.) the 3 that we gave away were sweet peas off spring. Now it's been two days and it seems sweet pea is depressed she just sits in the coop same spot where they all had gone Broody, she was out in the run a bit, but my husband says she looks sad. So my question is now that she is the only adult chicken do you think we can slip the chicks back under her and maybe that will help bring her around?? She went from broody and having eggs and a chick along side her 3 adult off spring to having no one except two juvenile chickens who she could care less about and vise versa.
Poor sweet pea we jury want to do what's best.. For everyone

 

[krista74]

Hi there,

I saw your post here a while ago and since no-one had replied yet I thought I'd chip in my two cents worth.

Poor Sweet Pea, I feel so sad for her! It must be devastating to watch too, and I know if you're anything like me your heart will be breaking for her.

I am the first to admit I know next to nothing about chickens, having only owned my own for a short while. That being said, my initial thoughts were that if she is still sitting on the nest (ie: exhibiting broody behaviour) that maybe she would successfully 'adopt' some of the chicks.

I have heard of people adding chicks to a hen who already has chicks, and it's been successful. I am certainly no authority on the subject though!

Take this with a grain of salt (bearing in mind my lack of experience) but I would be tempted to give her the chicks, supervise them well, and seeing if she will mother them.

Good luck! I hope no matter which way you decide to go, that Sweet Pea cheers up Krista.

 

[aart]

Big changes in flock dynamic, it'll take awhile for her to get over it but she will.
You can try to introduce the chicks to her but she may well reject them.
If it works and she's happy great, if it doesn't just give her some time, she snap back.