Hen/chick question

[trudyg]

I had a hen go broody on infertile eggs, so I waited until day 20 and tucked 3 chicks from Rural King under her. They went straight under and she hissed at me to leave them alone, so I left. Next day, I only saw one chick moving around, but I only looked for a moment and it was the cool of the morning. Today, I came home and she was out with one chick, one was dead next to the eggs and the third was who knows where. I tossed the sat-on eggs and the dead chick, searched through the bedding for the lost baby (assumed it was dead). Nada. So, would she have eaten it? Would she have let it stray far enough out that one of the other birds got it? Would the other birds maybe get it when she stepped off the nest? BTW, the chicks at Rural King were older than I wanted, but I got the ones I thought were youngest. I'm tickled she has one, at least, to raise because she's my only one who sits, but just wondering.

 

[SilverBirds]

The dead one probably got squished between the hen and the eggs. The second one probably wandered away because he did not know that the hen was his mother and that he was supposed to stay close. It is a possibility that another hen grabbed the second one, but we'll never know for sure.

 

[trudyg]

Nah, my other hens are pretty vicious. And I put them under her at night, pitch dark, and I saw all 3 go under her. We'll never know, I guess. Even a dead one, after a bit, looks like a random bit of fluff. Oh well, the one left is doing well.