Hens pecking at a chick

[TheChickenLady1]

Two of my hens have taken on the "mom" role for (so far) one chick. The chick hatched yesterday but I've noticed that the two moms have been pecking at her? They only do so when I get too close to the chick or if she starts to wander away. She doesn't seem to mind, never tries to run away and in fact, she nestles closer sometimes, is this normal? I haven't seen any blood, but should I separate the chick anyway? My birds have never been aggressive before, so maybe this is just something mother hens do? This is my first time hatching and their first time seeing a chick too.

 

[Lydia Huizenga]

Does it seem harsh or gentle pecks? You said this was their first time seeing a chick so it could just be curiousity. If it gets any worse I would remove the chick.

 

[TheChickenLady1]

Does it seem harsh or gentle pecks? You said this was their first time seeing a chick so it could just be curiousity. If it gets any worse I would remove the chick.

All the pecks seem pretty gentle, but she does it rather often. She likes to have the chick next to her and she keeps her under her wing most of the time, so I don't think she's rejecting her. I attached a video of her doing it below.

https://imgur.com/XZQKXKK

 

[Rachnicko]

This looks like what my broody did and at first I worried. I’m pretty sure it turned out she was trying to get the chicks beneath her, and the pecks are more gentle than they look (I slow motion videoed my broody and they were kind of open mouth pecks).
Is the hen still sitting on eggs?

 

[TheChickenLady1]

This looks like what my broody did and at first I worried. I’m pretty sure it turned out she was trying to get the chicks beneath her, and the pecks are more gentle than they look (I slow motion videoed my broody and they were kind of open mouth pecks).
Is the hen still sitting on eggs?

I just slowed it down my videos as well and my broody was doing the same thing, open-mouthed. She was probably trying to get the chick underneath her as well. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who experienced this. She doesn't seem aggressive at all besides the pecking, so I'm glad to see that the pecks weren't as bad as I first thought.

As for the eggs, when this chick hatched, the hen from the video moved it over to the nesting box beside her eggs and has been keeping the chick there with her. Every so often, she moves and sits on the eggs for a bit, or another hen does, but mostly they aren't on the eggs. I thought it might be because all the rest were duds, but today I saw that one of them has a crack in it and it was moving. Might this be a problem? I don't have an incubator so I figured that if they hatch, they hatch and if they don't, they don't. Is there a way I could encourage her or another hen to sit on them again?


Edit: I have a camera in my coop and I was just looking at them, and it seemed like my broody was trying to take the eggs from the other box and put them under her? The dividers in my nesting boxes are L shaped and so I saw her reach over the box she's in and pull on the eggs up next to her, but she wasn't able to do it because of the divider. The dividers are removable so maybe I should take them out. I considered it before but decided not to because she must've moved for a reason. But maybe she would sit on the eggs again if I did?

 

[Rachnicko]

I’m no expert unfortunately, and no idea why she moved. I don’t really know your set up, but I’m wondering if maybe she moved to get out of the way of other hens now that a chick hatched? Or maybe the chick confused her?
I did wonder if all the rest of the eggs in the video were hers. Did you mark them at all when she began sitting?
If she’s been off them a while, that’s probably not great for them if they’ve got to nearly hatching stage. If all eggs had begun incubation at the same time, they should be ready for hatching at around about the same time.
I think if I were you, I’d candle the eggs and put any that still look viable under her, as it seems that’s what she was trying to do to move them. I like your idea of just letting nature take its course though, and if it happens it happens...

You’d think these broody hens would know what they’re doing - which I’m sure they do do a greater degree. However, ours was sat on 6 eggs and one hatched early on day 20 but she continued sitting with chick and remaining eggs. I was convinced some others would hatch because she kept sitting (and thought she must know something I don’t)... until day 22 when I candled and realised none of the others were viable. I’d only candled early in the incubation and had seen blood vessels in a few, but they must have died early on. I had to take the eggs off her so she would get off the nest with the chick! Ahh broodies!!

 

[Alaskan]

had to take the eggs off her so she would get off the nest with the chick! Ahh broodies!!

I have 2 broodies that are the same. They will not take care of hatched chicks until all eggs are gone.

What your broody is doing looks a little odd to me... but not clearly bad...

I would take away all eggs, and she if she will start to properly mother the chick (show it food and water, etc.)

 

[Rachnicko]

I have 2 broodies that are the same. They will not take care of hatched chicks until all eggs are gone.

What your broody is doing looks a little odd to me... but not clearly bad...

I would take away all eggs, and she if she will start to properly mother the chick (show it food and water, etc.)

That’s really interesting to know. I really wondered if she could feel life/movement beneath her and that’s why she wouldn’t move but obviously not.

Good luck with the chick/hatch @TheChickenLady1 let us know what happens