HELP!!! MAMA HEN EATING HER CHICKS?!?!

[Peppercorngal]

I don't think it's very common, but there are hens that are happily broody, but when the chicks hatch they kill them. I have a hen like that. The first time her chicks hatched was at night. I found the two dead chicks on the floor of the coop in the morning. Second time I was there and witnessed the hen try to kill the chicks. I took them and put them in my brooder and raised them that way. My Bridget loves to sit, hates the chicks. Recently my broody was on 3 eggs. Hatch day came and one egg was completely gone! I never found it at all. She is a very large Jersey Giant hen and crushed one chick when it piped and the egg lost it's hardness. One chick was ok. I did use fake eggs under her to help with her weight. Last year another large hen hatched a chick but unfortunately she was too heavy and squished it to death. Maybe that is what happened to yours? Heavy hens are a problem. Here's the egg with the chick that didn't make it.

 

[Tilhana]

Sorry for your losses. I know how sad it is to have new chicks suddenly die and not know why...

I know it's a little late, but since you mentioned you have multiple broody hens, I would separate them from the rest of the flock if you want to give the chicks the best chance for survival. I just learned this the hard way this season - a fight broke out between a mama and some other hens in the run, and when she ran away, they attacked one of her chicks. Fortunately I was outside when it happened and intervened in time to save the chick, who recovered after a few days in a brooder. Another chick was not so lucky; it had just hatched in the coop under another broody hen while the other chickens were free ranging, and it looks like one or more adult chickens came back to the coop and attacked it. I found it shortly after but the injuries were greater and the chick younger, and I wasn't able to save it.

After that I moved both my mama hens to separate pens fenced off from the rest of the flock. I suggest you do the same, and I'd suggest separate pens for each broody hen because I did see my two broodies attack each other before I separated them. I don't think the maternal instinct extends to other hens' chicks. It may not be that other hens killed your chicks, but at least this way you'd have one less potential source of predation to worry about. Plus, if it is the mama hen cannibalizing her own chicks, then she may not hesitate to do so to other chicks as well.

Good luck!