Hen bullying new hatchling

[VeeKay]

My three broody silkie hens hatched a clutch of about 9 babies last weekend. The babies have been in the coop until today when three of them were in the run with the hens and Roo dad (it’s about 85 degrees here.) I got home from work and noticed one of the babies outside the run fence so I picked it up and placed it back inside. The baby ran toward one hen but another hen got between them and started pecking and chasing the hatchling! Never saw this behavior before from an adult hen. I took him out and thought maybe it was a correction or something and stayed close by to try again and put the little one back in the run. Hatchling ran toward the same mom hen, the other hen intercepted and attacked again, it was too harsh to be safe correction. I removed the hatchling immediately. Why in the world would this happen?

Note: Hatchling was placed in a brooder with my incubator hatchlings who are just a wee bit older. The new hatchling was pretty immediately accepted and found solace with the new flock.

 

[nuthatched]

It's not bullying. The other hen, not being broody, sees the new chicks as intruder, a pest or maybe even a snack.
Put the hatchling under mom and closely watch, if she can't protect her babes,, you need to remove them.

 

[VeeKay]

I removed the little one and placed it with an incubator clutch still in the brooder.

All three silkie hens went broody, all three laid and hatched the eggs and then one of those three started attacking one of the babies after about a week.

TBF her name is Noodles and she’s not the brightest hen.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I removed the little one and placed it with an incubator clutch still in the brooder.

All three silkie hens went broody, all three laid and hatched the eggs and then one of those three started attacking one of the babies after about a week.

TBF her name is Noodles and she’s not the brightest hen.

I laughed, because one of my grand-cats is named Noodles, and let’s just say that it’s unlikely that she will ever be joining a fusion-energy research team.