Help - hen pecking new chick

[RedCoopOnWheels]

Our Showgirl went broody on a lot of eggs. Two had problems hatching and died. The mess attracted other hens, and they pecked at the eggs. So we moved the eggs to an incubator. The Showgirl stayed broody then tried to steal another hen's chick. That night a chick hatched and we gave it to her. She was so happy! The next day another chick hatched and she accepted that one too. (They both are naked necks too).

Then last night another egg hatched at midnight. I rushed it out to her and put it under her. This morning the chick was fine, but Showgirl was hungry and was not sitting on the nest, so the little chicks have been following her around outside. She seemed to get irritated by the newest chick (not a naked-neck) and pecked at it. She drew blood by the eye and kept tipping it over.

We removed the chick and put it under a heat lamp with a stuffed animal.

Now I don't know what to do. I don't want to raise the chick by itself (for socialization reasons). I can't seem to find any other day-old chicks for sale anywhere. We do have some more eggs in the incubator -- but no idea if or when they will hatch.

Should I try putting her back under her mama at night again? Or are we stuck keeping her separated?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would pull all three chicks and brood them myself, I think you introduced it past the two days, she might kill it, depends if you like risking it, I prefer to avoid the drama, I confine my mama and chicks for 1-2 weeks until the chicks are strong enough to keep up, a wire ring within the pen, so everyone can see what's going on. If you have any other broodies you could see if someone else wants it,Good luck.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Our Showgirl went broody on a lot of eggs. Two had problems hatching and died. The mess attracted other hens, and they pecked at the eggs. So we moved the eggs to an incubator. The Showgirl stayed broody then tried to steal another hen's chick. That night a chick hatched and we gave it to her. She was so happy! The next day another chick hatched and she accepted that one too. (They both are naked necks too).

Then last night another egg hatched at midnight. I rushed it out to her and put it under her. This morning the chick was fine, but Showgirl was hungry and was not sitting on the nest, so the little chicks have been following her around outside. She seemed to get irritated by the newest chick (not a naked-neck) and pecked at it. She drew blood by the eye and kept tipping it over.

We removed the chick and put it under a heat lamp with a stuffed animal.

Now I don't know what to do. I don't want to raise the chick by itself (for socialization reasons). I can't seem to find any other day-old chicks for sale anywhere. We do have some more eggs in the incubator -- but no idea if or when they will hatch.

Should I try putting her back under her mama at night again? Or are we stuck keeping her separated?

Showgirl is obviously past the stage where she is willing to accept new chicks and she has reached the stage in her broodiness where she is ready to mother chicks and not be an incubator. To this end she will promptly attack and likely kill any future chicks that you give her. She is only protecting the chicks that she already has.

This is just another reason that staggered hatching is a bad idea. With just a little work we could come up with 100 other reasons to not stagger hatch.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

We have two other hens with new chicks (1 week old and 2 weeks old), but no other broodies.

Do you think it is going to be too hard for the showgirl's two 2-3 day chicks to continue following her around (its very hot out now). They seem ok, but I am worried that they are not getting enough rest. They are eating and drinking, but sometimes she is stepping on them by accident.

Also our cochin bantam hen (w/2-week chicks) attacked her and one of her babies today too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It does turn into a mess when they hatch new chicks, that's why I confine them, mama wants to get on with life, but the kids need to find their sea legs and learn to eat and drink, and get big enough to get away from jealous or bossy hens. This is just what I do, I find the hens don't always make the best decisions.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

Thank you. We did try confining her but she makes a huge fuss, and was very unhappy. Maybe I will try that again with her two remaining chicks. I'm trying to find someone in the area that has a broody hen that might accept this chick, or find some other chicks to put with it. We'd prefer to leave chicks with their mama if possible.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You'll figure it out, what works for me might not for you and vice versa, sounds like you have a plan, good luck.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

An update:

1) We decided to take only one of the two accepted chicks from the Showgirl. So we left one with her, and put the other one with the orphaned chick.
2) Showgirl was perfectly happy taking care of just one chick and she's being a good mama to it. (Protective and everything).
3) The orphaned chick clearly is doing MUCH better with a friend, and the friend seemed to be fine without mama.
4) Today, one more chick hatched (surprise!!) and after it dried and fluffed, we put it in with those two. They seemed fine (we supervised for a long long time), so after a few hours we took the friend back to Showgirl to see what would happen -- and she was very happy to see it and seems to be taking care of it properly too.
5) So far so good. The orphaned chick seemed amazed to see a smaller chick, and the new chick thinks the other one might be her mama. Hopefully all will be well.

(BTW, we are new at this and just trying to do our best.)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like things are working out, such fun playing musical chicks.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

Fun, yes, I can see that now! It was kind of stressful for me because I was worried about the poor chick all by itself - and then today I was pretty worried about the new chick too. But it seems like it will be ok now. We bought some feather dusters for them to snuggle in, and that seems to really help.

It was pretty cute to see the "big" chick looking at the tiny newcomer with clear curiosity. Can see how this gets addictive.