do chickens eat their chicks???? where is my chick??

[quinkerton]

I have never put my babies with the hens, always kept them in the shed under lights until they were about 4-5 weeks old depending on the weather.

 

[sylesil]

So I need to take the newly hatched chicks out of the coop. I too have lost several chicks,UGH.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I recently gave a mama three chicks and separated her using this 1 1/4" screen and was horrified when the three babies went on a walk about and just walked right through what I thought were tiny openings.

They grow up fast, a week later, they couldn't get through that but as newborns, wow. I was shocked.

I'm also shocked to read that other hens would eat a baby chick. I have a Jersey Giant who will eat anything and everything and but I NEVER thought she'd eat a chick. Good thing I separated mama and babies for that first week.

 

[John-1948]

And me too ..... lost one chick every couple of days ....
and just now, I checked, had 5 (out of 9) baby chicks in the free range coop....
then one hour later ... ONE WAS GONE !!!
I have RIR and Rhodebar hens that are almost one year old and BIG girls.
so, now I will take the remainder 5 and coop them up alone......

Thanks for sharing.





There ain't nothing no more cuter
than a box of baby chickies. POGO - 1960