Hen killed one of my chicks!

[Cornishboyraptor]

I have a pekin mother hen and 3 chicks. Two of them was male and one was female but the female was a runt and although the chicks were 6 weeks the runt looked 3 weeks old. We had the chicks living in the greenhouse for a while which is next to our coop and we introduced them to the flock but after I got home from school the runt has been killed and I'm sure I now the hen who did it. What should I do now?

 

[rosemarythyme]

The hen as in the mother killed them? What makes you think that she did it?

 

[Studabird]

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. If there is more than the mother in the flock the weakest one will always be picked on and possibly killed. I had this happen this spring with a Brahma. Luckily my daughter caught the attempted murder and I was able to stop it. So I moved the runt into the pen/brooder where she was going to be dominant based purely on size. Thankfully she is still alive. But based on her passivity and perceived weakness by the flock she was going to be targeted. I wouldn’t be too hard on the hen she was only doing what nature told her to. The weak take up resources and nature has a way of making sure resources are not wasted. While we call her “Mother” nature. I have found she can be a real “Mother” four letter word

 

[Cornishboyraptor]

The hen as in the mother killed them? What makes you think that she did it?

No a different hen in the flock.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Is it possible it just died? Runts tend to do that. Part of Darwinism

 

[TheDuckGuy]

She is a RUNT and the "mother" hen might have killed it thinking it was sick since it is a RUNT

 

[Cornishboyraptor]

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. If there is more than the mother in the flock the weakest one will always be picked on and possibly killed. I had this happen this spring with a Brahma. Luckily my daughter caught the attempted murder and I was able to stop it. So I moved the runt into the pen/brooder where she was going to be dominant based purely on size. Thankfully she is still alive. But based on her passivity and perceived weakness by the flock she was going to be targeted. I wouldn’t be too hard on the hen she was only doing what nature told her to. The weak take up resources and nature has a way of making sure resources are not wasted. While we call her “Mother” nature. I have found she can be a real “Mother” four letter word

Yes. Unfortunately I was at school so I didnt see what happened but I've seen this one hen pick on the chicks sometime but that was when we first introduced them. The hen that killed the runt was a barred rock that I think is more dominant, even more than the rooster. The other 2 chicks are alright at the min too. Doesn't help that we took the mother out to raise the chicks for 4 weeks so she is now the least dominant. I'm glad your chick didnt pass away. When it grows up will you reintroduce it?

 

[Cornishboyraptor]

Is it possible it just died? Runts tend to do that. Part of Darwinism

No because there was blood around the neck and the mother (not the killer) never hurt her as far as I've seen (which is alot)

 

[TheDuckGuy]

My runt chick died too and there was no injures was there any injuries on yours? If not he may have just died like im assuming mine did

 

[Studabird]

Yes. Unfortunately I was at school so I didnt see what happened but I've seen this one hen pick on the chicks sometime but that was when we first introduced them. The hen that killed the runt was a barred rock that I think is more dominant, even more than the rooster. The other 2 chicks are alright at the min too. Doesn't help that we took the mother out to raise the chicks for 4 weeks so she is now the least dominant. I'm glad your chick didnt pass away. When it grows up will you reintroduce it?

I have three individual flocks. She now lives very happily with her 8 Buff Brahma sisters and she will stay with them.