Hen trying to kill her chick

[Frannabelle]

So, I let my 2 bantam cochin girls hatch out an egg each ( had 3 but one was not viable)
My buff hen hatched hers out and a few hours later, my black hen hatched hers out. When I went to check on them, the black hen had pushed her baby out and was in the nest box with the buff hen and baby. Ok, so I switched babies, buff hen did not care, but the black hen then tried to peck and kill the buff hen's baby. I tried to give her back her own baby, but serious pecking. So, I removed buff hen and babies to a separate cage. Buff hen loves the babies.

This morning when I let everyone out, I left the cage door open in case buff hen wanted to get out, go back an hour later, black hen is in the cage and had seriously pecked the baby she hatched out. I brought the baby in and stopped the bleeding, put blue kote on it's wounds. I think it'll be OK, it still seemed pretty strong, but we'll see.


Any one have a hen act like this? Try to kill the baby she hatched?

 

[TwoCrows]

That sort of thing does happen when you try to get broody hens to raise chicks. I would brood that little one yourself and avoid it being killed by the other hens.

 

[Anianna]

We just had a rabbit that attacked her first litter. Many prey animals are wired to eat or otherwise eliminate babies they think are sick or dead in order not to attract predators. Sometimes, that instinct goes haywire and new mothers just go on the attack. We haven't found anything that solves the issue, but we have learned that if we give the mother a second chance, she a better momma on her second try. They don't have anybody showing them how to be a momma and have to figure it out for themselves. We do keep a close watch on mothers who have shown aggressive behavior, though, and are prepared to remove their offspring from them if necessary.

 

[CranberryCreekFarm]

Quote:
Very true, and its sad! We just had problems with one of our rabbits. She produced a great litter last season. This early spring we bred her, she made a nest and we didn't find any babies, so we figured miscarriage. Tried again a few months later and I caught her "taking care of them". So, needless to say, shes not a breeder anymore...

We now have milk replacer on hand for any other bunnies who don't take care of their babies.

 

[Frannabelle]

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The baby is with the other hen, who is doting on both babies. I've never had a broody do this.

 

[Blue]

Quote:
The baby is with the other hen, who is doting on both babies. I've never had a broody do this.

It sounds like you may have to just keep momma hen and her babies separate from the other chickens until the chicks are bigger.