HELP! chicks killed upon hatching.

[Katzie]

I have a real problem! I have 6 hens that have all gone broody and are trying to lay on the same eggs. The nesting box will accommodate all of the hens so I put some eggs under each hen. Whenever an chicks hatches out of their egg, the hens kill it. What can I do?? I tried moving the hens to separate nesting boxes but they just will go right back to the original nesting box and sit on another hen if necessary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

I would take one or two hens you want to raise the babies (in my personal experience we've had better luck with broodies being higher on the pecking order raising babies) and separate them entirely. Try to break the other broody mom's, and make the ones you decide to keep brooding their own separate areas to sit on/raise the babies where the chicks cant get out and the other moms can't get in. Just what I would do personally

 

[MGG]

I have a real problem! I have 6 hens that have all gone broody and are trying to lay on the same eggs. The nesting box will accommodate all of the hens so I put some eggs under each hen. Whenever an chicks hatches out of their egg, the hens kill it. What can I do?? I tried moving the hens to separate nesting boxes but they just will go right back to the original nesting box and sit on another hen if necessary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Always separate your broody hens. Letting hens incubate together is a bad idea, as you've seen. They all need to be separated.