hen's killing chicks

[bkvail]

Is it a common occurrence for hen's to kill their own chicks as they hatch? By artificially hatching/brooding chicks, are we ruining the natural ability of hen's to raise their own by breeding out the mothering instincts?

My welsummer hen has been hatching 4 eggs - 2 have hatched and she killed them both. I am debating about taking out the last two and finishing the incubating myself, but is it just a vicious cycle?

 

[Judy]

Henderson's breed chart http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html has info on how broody various breeds are. If it says they tend to be broody, it does not mean every hen will go broody, only that hopefully some will. Note it says "mixed reports on setting and brooding" for Welsummers.

Somewhere else on here I found a list of breeds that are good broodies and chick mothers: old english games, kraienkoppes, malays, shamos, asils, madagascar games, and silkies. I had 3 Kraienkoppe hens last year; all 3 were good broodies and good mothers; when the original hatching hen was killed, the other two took over raising the chick.

Yeah, I'd take the other two eggs away from her.

 

[willowcol]

My OEGH killed all but 1 of her babies as they hatched. The only 1 to make it alive is from the last egg and I took it and put it in the bator so it would live.

 

[saladin]

bkvail,

To answer the question no one else has: NO, artificial incubation has not changed the behavior of broody hens. Artificial incubation was practised by the ancient Egyptians; so, it has been around for a long time.

The others gave you advice on what to do with those other two eggs.