Hens aggressive with chick(s)

[TamsSharp]

I am having issues with my 5 dark Brahma hens that I need help resolving. Sorry, this will be a little long.
Ms. Brown is the low hen in the flock, she gets picked on a lot but she was the first hen to show signs of being broody. Ms. Bossy, the top hen, decided that she was going to take over the nest and ran Ms. Brown out of it. Then another hen decided that she wanted to be broody as well. So I ended up with three hens sitting in the same nesting boxes. I also had two other hens that were laying in that box. So I added another nesting box like the one they've been laying in to help resolve the issue. (They already had a nesting box that they were previously laying in in the coop but they decided that they didn't want to use it any more.)
Ms Brown continued sitting in the nest during the day while everyone was out in the yard but no one was sitting on the eggs at night. I noticed around March 26th that Ms. Bossy was sitting on the nest at night while everyone else was on the roost. About 12 days later I candled the eggs and I added a third box like they had been using and divided up the 30 eggs between the three nesting boxes. I gave Ms. Brown the eggs that weren't as developed because she hadn't been sitting full time as long as the other two. I was worried about Ms. Bossy becoming thin and didn't want her sitting on eggs longer than she needed to. All of the hens handled being moved to new boxes just fine.
The first chicks hatched out a on Monday/Tuesday last week. Ms Bossy had 6 chicks hatch and my other hen had 5 hatch. After that they didn't seem to be sitting on the remaining eggs. Since they were focused on the chicks I gave the remaining eggs to Ms. Brown giving her a total of 13 eggs. At this point Ms. Brown had one chick which I tried giving to the other hens and Ms Brown wouldn't stay in her nest so I gave the chick back to her. When chick #2 hatched I gave chick #1 to the other hens and she was ok with this and the other hens accepted the chick. As each new chick hatched I left the new one with Ms. Brown and gave the older one to the other hens.
This seemed to be going well until Saturday when I noticed Ms. Bossy was being aggressive with Ms. Brown. I thought Ms Bossy was trying to take the chick away from Ms. Brown so I chased Ms Bossy off from the box and it seemed to help. When I went out to close up the coop for the night I found all three hens in Ms. Brown's nesting box. It seems like they wanted to go back to sitting on the eggs instead of caring for the chicks. The chicks couldn't get back into the boxes and were clustered together trying to keep warm so I thought if I put the chicks back into the nesting box beside the ones the hens were in that they would willingly move over with the chicks. It was at this point that Ms Bossy reached over and bit me. This is the first time that she has been that aggressive with me.
I knew having all three hens in the same box was going to be an issue so I got our dog kennel, clean and sanitized it, put in fresh bedding and took it into the coop. I removed the empty nesting boxes first then threw out some meal worms for everyone to snack on while I moved the remaining eggs and the two youngest chicks into the kennel. I had to pull Ms Bossy out of the nesting box because she wasn't willing to leave to eat meal worms. She tried several times to bite me again and the whole time I'm trying to move the eggs and 2 chicks out of the nesting box she was coming at me.
I finally got everyone moved over and picked up Ms Brown and put her into the kennel. She immediately settled in to take care of her clutch. I opened the door and put in water and food dishes and she wasn't concerned about me at all. The other two hens settled into the area that the chicks were clustered and Ms Bossy hid her head under the other hen's wing and peeked out from under it clucking and hissing at me.
Since then I have gone out in the morning, let out the two roosters and two non broody hens to run around the yard. I would let Ms Brown out of the kennel to stretch, eat, dust bath etc. While this was going on I would change water, add food, etc. I had to make sure that Ms Bossy and the other hen didn't get into the kennel. When Ms Brown went back into the kennel I shut the door.

So the bigger issue started yesterday. My husband went out and opened the coop door into the run and opened the kennel and let Ms Brown out about 8 am. I went out about 10 am to change water and feed and saw that there was a chick outside. One of the Non Broody hens attacked the chick which ran into a corner and hid. I let the two non broody hens and 2 roosters out of the run and into the yard. Scooped up the chick and took it back into the coop. I noticed that several of the eggs had been kicked out of the kennel and there was a dead chick in it. His belly looked weird but I'm not sure what killed him. I put the eggs back in the kennel and when Ms Brown went in to sit I closed the door.
I started counting chicks and noticed that there was one missing. I found him out in the run standing very still, facing the fence, one eye closed and it looked like there was some blood on his head near his eye. I went to put him back into the coop and he tried to run back out the door. I closed the coop door to the run and then I carried him into the coop. As soon as I put him down he immediately ran to a corner and hid, he was obviously terrified. I scooped him up and put him in the kennel with Ms Brown. She was fine with him and let him snuggle in under her.
Today I told the hubby to not let the chickens out that I would take care of them. I went out to do the same routine that I have been, let Ms. Brown out of the kennel, changed her food and water, and checked on the chick. His eye that I thought had been hurt yesterday was open but he is now keeping the other one closed. I set him down on the floor and within a minute or two the other broody hen pecked him hard. I went after her and she ran off only to immediately go after the chick again. Only this time she grabbed a hold of him enough to flip him up in the air. The chick found Ms Brown and she got him under her, while the other hen and I were having a face off. After a few more minutes the other hen and Ms Bossy went to a corner with their chicks and settled in.
I nudge Ms Brown and moved her so that I could pick up the chick and put him back in the kennel. Ms Brown finally came and settled back in the kennel with him and I closed the door.

The coop is large so its not like they are crowded. They have plenty of food and fresh water. Today I put a dog cage at the coop door to the yard so that they could go out into the grass if they wanted but Ms Bossy and the other hen haven't shown much interest in going outside yet.
I thought by letting the hens hatch out the chicks in the coop without using a brooder box that the chickens would be more accepting of the chicks but now I'm not sure that was the right choice.
My Roosters have shown no interest in any of the chicks and I am at a loss as to why the hens are picking on this chick? I originally thought that the non broody hen killed the chick I found in the kennel but now I'm not so sure it wasn't my nameless broody.
Ms. Brown had another chick that was hatching out this morning and she still has another 7 or 8 to go. Should I continue with what I am doing until the chicks have finished hatching?

Does anyone have any idea as to what is going on with my hens being aggressive with the chicks?
Any recommendations on how to handle this situation?

Thank you,
Tamara

 

[Asliter]

I would try to separate the three hens into three separate pens or cages totally separate from the rest of the flock until the chicks are 6 or 7 weeks old. Separate food and water dishes as well. The broody hens are very Hormonal and are very protective of the chicks. By having them all together it makes them more stressed and prone to attack everything to protect their babies. Even other chicks if their stressed out enough.
You might also trying to give all the chicks to one hen and keeping only her separate while breaking the other two broody hens “broodiness cycle ” and integrating them back into the flock.

 

[Acre4Me]

Separate Brooders for all mommas and their chicks! They need to be protected when they are little and they cant always get back to momma or away from any aggressive chicken.

 

[aart]

Some broodies can share space and/or 'parenting' duties...some cannot.

Any recommendations on how to handle this situation?

In the future, break all, or all but one, broody.

For now might be best to separate the broodies with their own chicks,
you've got lots of space so build some pens.

 

[chickens really]

Definitely too close and not proper Brooders. Separate them till Momma is settled and reintroduce at a week old..

 

[TamsSharp]

Well things have gotten worse. Is it possible that hens can be jealous?

As I mentioned before, I separated Ms. Brown with her chick and remaining eggs into a kennel that I left in the coop. Three more of the eggs hatched out, one seemed to have died shortly after hatching. The other two were fine but then the next morning they were also dead. No marks on them and Ms Brown hasn't shown any aggression towards any of the chicks. (In fact most of Ms Bossy's chicks flock to Ms Brown when she is out and she treats them all the same.) I don't know if something was wrong with them. I feel that in my attempt to save one chick I may have cost the lives of three others.

During this time Ms. Bossy and my other Broody hen have been sharing Momma duties while in the coop. The chicks are now almost 3 weeks old and the hens started taking them out into the run a couple days ago. Since then I've noticed that Ms. Bossy has run off the other hen and is no longer willing to share duties.
To continue keeping everyone separated I have been closing the coop door to the run and allowing Ms. Brown and her chicks to have some time out of the kennel in the coop. I kept Ms Brown and her chicks separate from the others until the 30th when the oldest chick was two weeks old and the other two were a week and a half old. When I went to close up the coop for the night I left the kennel open. The next morning I found the chick that all the hens has been harassing dead with a hole in his neck. My hubby and I had already decided that there must have been something wrong with the chick and that was why all of the hens were attacking him.
On the plus side they seemed to be leaving Ms Brown's other two chicks alone. That was until yesterday. Ms Bossy is back to running the roost bullying all the other hens.
The hens and chicks were out in the run and Ms Bossy started picking fights with Ms Brown, and she was fighting back. Ms Bossy was also going after one of Ms Brown's chicks. It seemed though that Ms Brown was protecting her chick. When I went to close up the coop for the night Ms Brown and the other Broody hen were in the kennel together sitting on the remaining eggs and Ms Bossy had all 13 of the older chicks with her in the corner.
This morning I go to let everyone out and found Ms Brown's chick on the coop floor dead with a hole in his neck and his side.

I swear its like Ms Bossy thinks she's the only one that is allowed to be a Momma.

I'm pretty sure that 2, possibly 3, of my other hens are still willing to sit on nests if I let them. I am going to build brooder boxes to separate everyone, but they will stay in the coop.
I let them sit on eggs they wouldn't hatch out until the older chicks are a minimum of 6 weeks old. My concern at this point is how to deal with Ms Bossy.
I'm concerned even if the chicks are 2 weeks or older that Ms Bossy may kill the chicks or try to take them away from the other hens.
Should I consider removing her permanently from the flock? Is her behavior something that I am always going to have to worry about if I keep her?

 

[chickens really]

Very confusing situation and all I can say is separate Mommas and flocks till the Chicks can successfully integrate?

 

[Asliter]

Sounds like Ms Brown May be the preferred mother hen. As long as she is ok with it, I would put ALL the chicks with in their own pen until about 6 week old for the youngest. If you have any other Eggs left to hatch you can give them to Ms bossy for a while to see if they hatch. If not I would integrate her back into the flock and break her broody cycle.