Hen eats chick?

[chickenlver2013]

Thank ya!

 

[chickenlver2013]

If a chick is dead or beyond saving a hen will eat it. If s chick is abnormal and is going to be a problem in the flock the hen will kill it. That is nature and I do not think it is a reason to get rid of the hen. Not all hens will do it and not all hens will eat the dead or abnormal chick but yes they do it and it is not abnormal behaviour.

 

I never knew that. Thanks for the info! I'm always leaRning something on this site

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
x2 I didn't know they would eat their young. Eww! Thanks for the info. x2!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

x2 I didn't know they would eat their young. Eww! Thanks for the info. x2!

I've said it before and It is worth repeating. What ever you do don't lay down and take a nap in your chicken pen! You may awaken with a bugs' eye view of you chickens.

 

[chooks4life]

I've said something similar before and here I'll say it again: I'd hate to be the creature that gets a bleeding wound in front of a flock of hungry chickens.


Quote: It is natural and instinctive to kill a failing baby but we've modified so much of their behaviour and genetics for so many millions of generations, why stop now? You breed what you want in. What you remove and don't breed, you don't get. I don't want violent birds, so I remove them, so I have a big peaceful flock of all ages, breeds and both genders. I don't get attacked by roosters, nor do they wound one another. I don't have killed babies because I don't breed baby killers. I am the one in charge of whether or not an injured or ill bird of any age gets culled, I don't allow my animals to make that choice for me.

If the whole flock's peaceful, it rubs off on newbies; if you consistently remove the bullies, you get left with calm, happier stock, and you can be calmer knowing there's no wanton killings going on. My chooks don't bully an injured or ill bird, possibly because in a huge flock of birds there's always one that's hurt or sick and they free range so there's no warped obsessive behaviour. I've raised many hundreds of birds but only removed about 15 to 20, max, for violent behaviour. None of the bullies were losses, either, not worth breeding, not worth keeping as pets. You breed and rear what you think is best, and I'm sure everyone's doing their best with what they have and what they know, I just hope I can encourage some people to be a bit more optimistic concerning the violence many are told is inherent in chickens. It's not, it doesn't have to be that way, it can be picture-book idyllic.

There's roughly two sorts of breeders for every animal, whether a bird, dog, cat, cow, horse, etc: one breeder thinks violent behaviour is inevitable and therefore acceptable, so that's what they get and breed, and the other one thinks it's a problem, needing addressing rather than accepting, but peace is possible... So that's what they get and breed. Slight over-simplification but holds true for the majority of animal breeders of any sort. Animals often breed very true compared to humans. (Less thoughts interfering and changing their behavioural patterns). You choose what breeds on, therefore to a large extent what you have in future.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've said something similar before and here I'll say it again: I'd hate to be the creature that gets a bleeding wound in front of a flock of hungry chickens.


It is natural and instinctive to kill a failing baby but we've modified so much of their behaviour and genetics for so many millions of generations, why stop now? You breed what you want in. What you remove and don't breed, you don't get. I don't want violent birds, so I remove them, so I have a big peaceful flock of all ages, breeds and both genders. I don't get attacked by roosters, nor do they wound one another. I don't have killed babies because I don't breed baby killers. I am the one in charge of whether or not an injured or ill bird of any age gets culled, I don't allow my animals to make that choice for me.

If the whole flock's peaceful, it rubs off on newbies; if you consistently remove the bullies, you get left with calm, happier stock, and you can be calmer knowing there's no wanton killings going on. My chooks don't bully an injured or ill bird, possibly because in a huge flock of birds there's always one that's hurt or sick and they free range so there's no warped obsessive behaviour. I've raised many hundreds of birds but only removed about 15 to 20, max, for violent behaviour. None of the bullies were losses, either, not worth breeding, not worth keeping as pets. You breed and rear what you think is best, and I'm sure everyone's doing their best with what they have and what they know, I just hope I can encourage some people to be a bit more optimistic concerning the violence many are told is inherent in chickens. It's not, it doesn't have to be that way, it can be picture-book idyllic.

There's roughly two sorts of breeders for every animal, whether a bird, dog, cat, cow, horse, etc: one breeder thinks violent behaviour is inevitable and therefore acceptable, so that's what they get and breed, and the other one thinks it's a problem, needing addressing rather than accepting, but peace is possible... So that's what they get and breed. Slight over-simplification but holds true for the majority of animal breeders of any sort. Animals often breed very true compared to humans. (Less thoughts interfering and changing their behavioural patterns). You choose what breeds on, therefore to a large extent what you have in future.

I like that thought process re: animals.

 

[chooks4life]

Glad no offense was taken! My view on the subject's gotten some people riled up as they believe it's natural and acceptable for roosters to be violent and hens to massacre each other. Unhappy farmyards and backyards in those cases, for both the humans and the animals.

 

[chickymom85]

I know this is a very old post, but just to put what has just happened to me. We had a new chick last night. This morning I went in there and mama hen left the nesting box and one of my RIR was in there. The baby chick was gone and the red had baby feathers all over her beak. I looked everywhere for remains....nothing.