Hen killed newly hatched chick - educate me

[cochinfan]

I had a coffee can in my coop that I had put "old"eggs in. I didn't know what were too old to hatch, new, etc. Well they were in there for a couple of weeks and this weekend an egg actually hatched! (That's how hot it is here in Kansas!) Anyway, to keep me from having to care for one chick I thought it would work out if I stuck it under a hen that is sitting on a clutch of eggs that should be hatching soon.

Well, the next day I checked on things and found she had killed it! Why did she do that. I was just hatched still wet when I stuck it under her. Should I worry that she will kill her chicks as they hatch?

I've become resigned that hens seem to want to attack other hen's chicks but why didn't this hen think that she had hatched this baby?

thx,
Cochinfan

 

[sourland]

If you stuck it under her during the day, she did not have time to become accustomed to/bond with it. Generally things go better and hens more readily adopt chicks if they are introduced during the night. Some hens and experienced broodies accept chicks more readily - first timers haven't learned the routine yet.

 

[claytonhain]

the chick was probably to young. or maybe the hen stepped on it?

 

[cochinfan]

This chick was clearly killed by the hen. It was torn open. I'm not sure night would have helped. She killed it on the second day. I checked on her the next morning and I could hear the chick peeping. That evening there was silence so I lifted her up and found the dead chick. I guess I will have to wait and see if any of her eggs hatch whether they survive. Everytime I lose a chick is pains me a great deal. Next year every single egg will be collected!!! I have the broodiest bunch of hens but they will just have to get over it!

 

[Panth]

I have several really good broodies and several that love to sit on the eggs but kill their chicks as soon as they hatch. I thought about culling those hens, but instead I banded them and use them as my incubators...let them sit on the eggs until hatch and then pull the chicks as soon as they hatch and bring them in to my house in a brooder. This seems to work fine and so far when the hens run out of eggs they just jump off the nest and go about business as usual. I don't know if this would work for you, but it is worth a try if you want chicks but don't trust them. The bad part is you really have to be careful about candleing the eggs and being around all the time on hatch day to pull the chicks.