HELP! broody hen killed a chick! time sensitive!

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

i had a broody bantam calico cochin with 6 chicks that she hatched may 11, lately she has been getting very agressive and attacking my hand, she never did that when her chicks were younger. well she and her chicks are in a very large dog crate that is roughly 4'x2.5' feet, so she has lots of space. today i walked in the barn and she was flying/climbing the cage door, and i look and there is a dead chicks just laying there. is it possible that she is just done with these chicks and was trying to get out of the cage and in doing so she trampled a chick? she is still protecting them very good and she still has very good motherly instincts too. should i put her back in the coop and raise the babies my self?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would let her and the chicks out of the crate inside the coop where they are to live. Try to empty the coop beforehand and block the others outside. Then watch how she is behaving. She should exit the crate with the chicks following. She should then start foraging and showing them where to get food and water. She also should viciously go after the other chickens outside who come near her chicks. If she seems to be protecting them and keeping them with her without pecking them, I would say you are good.

I have never kept a broody inside a dog crate for that long after hatching her chicks. Usually I open the gate on the 3 rd day once all chicks are hatched or I have candled eggs and tossed the ones that are not going to hatch.

The reason I let mine out with the flock on the 3rd day is to check how she is doung as a mother. I had to remove chicks from one who pecked her chicks and was hurting them. Also, I had a broody once abandon her chicks after only 2 weeks, but since they had been going out to free range every day and the others knew them already, those 5 made it just fine. They came inside the coop and stayed warm together in a nest box, then returned at night to sleep. Later when they didn’t fit in there, they started roosting together, all 5 in a little group. It was very cute.

 

[jolenesdad]

I would let her and the chicks out of the crate inside the coop where they are to live. Try to empty the coop beforehand and block the others outside. Then watch how she is behaving. She should exit the crate with the chicks following. She should then start foraging and showing them where to get food and water. She also should viciously go after the other chickens outside who come near her chicks. If she seems to be protecting them and keeping them with her without pecking them, I would say you are good.

I have never kept a broody inside a dog crate for that long after hatching her chicks. Usually I open the gate on the 3 rd day once all chicks are hatched or I have candled eggs and tossed the ones that are not going to hatch.

Agree. She is stir crazy.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she has been out of the flock all that time, the others will probably attack her as well. So it might be best to put her and the chicks into the future bantam coop. In the future, it would be best to raise them inside the coop they will live in.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

and you have first hand experience that this works, because im highly skeptical that she would accept them back, much less still be broody.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

If she has been out of the flock all that time, the others will probably attack her as well. So it might be best to put her and the chicks into the future bantam coop. In the future, it would be best to raise them inside the coop they will live in.

That was the plan, but the only cage I have that would fit in the coop was a very small one and I wanted to give her more space., but the new coop is much bigger and will acomódate the larger cage for future bantams. I put her in an old prefab for now. Hopefully that will keep her busy until I get the new coop and run

ready. Then she will be the only one in their for a little bit and I will slowly add a hen at a time once the chicks get bigger to integrate them.

 

[Eggcessive]

That little coop and run is barely big enough for the hen and her chicks, and they will outgrow it. Those always overestimate how many chickens can live in them. I doubt if you can add other in there. Are your other hens full aized or bantam?

 

[BullChick]

Seriously, she needs more room.

 

[aBirdNerd]

How old is she?

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

How old is she?

the hen is a little older than a year. this is her first time, but she was doing soooo good, and all the sudden she is just starting to get very agressive, but she is still a great mom.