homocidal broody

[cat]

I posted two weeks ago that my broody was attacking her own eggs and eating them, something that she has never done before. People replied that she was probably just clumsy and had stepped on the eggs by accident.

Tonight we went to check on her as the eggs were due today. She had pulled one chick out the egg in front of us and killed it

: As we watched she began attacking another that was half out of the shell. there were several more dead chicks. I don't know if she did not understand what was happening as this is her first hatch, but it was awful.

We have an incubator so I have rescued the remaining eggs and one injured chick and put them in the bator, but of course I don't know if any will survive.

This is the end of the road for this hen, she is a buff orp, I got her because everyone told me how sweet they are. She has been nothing but a bully, attacking the other chickens and generally being mean. She killed one of the silkie teenagers I had

I am so angry with myself. All the way through I had a bad feeling and I kept thinking should I just put the eggs in the bator, but my silkie mom Kate Moss did such a great job with her hatch I thought I should leave it to nature. I wish I had moved them.

Has anyone had any experience with this and did any of your chicks hatch when moved so late.

Sorry it is a bit of a rant, I am just so upset with myself for not trusting my instincts.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Oh, how terrible that must have been.

Sometimes it's tough to tell what kind of a mother hen a broody will be. One of our Silkies, Sylvie, is WONDERFUL. She has even adopted a nearly week-old orphaned baby, one I didn't even have to sneak under her. I simply presented the chick to her on my hand, and her whole body quivered with anticipation when she realized what she was seeing... then she carefully collected it underneath her and purred. Very sweet.

Another girl, an Ameraucana, is sort of a fierce broody on the nest--if I tried to collect eggs from beneath her, she screeched like a banshee and looked very scary... so we thought, "gee, she might be a very protective mama." We free range, and that seemed like a good idea. We set her up with eggs.

However, she was bad about staying on the nest. It seemed she was up a lot more than our other broodies, but we crossed our fingers that she knew what she was doing, and didn't interfere. However, only one hatched with all that consistent cooling. Then she wasn't very motherly with the chick that did hatch, and left the baby on her own when she was three weeks old, rather early for weening!

Luckily there were younger hatchlings at that time, so I finally let the chick into the broody coop, where she liked to hang out with the new babies. The mother of the new brood--Sylvie again--was very tolerant, and eventually I would see them all snuggle together, even though I don't think Sylvie quite knew what to do with an orphan that big.

Don't feel angry with yourself. Honestly there is just no way to know what kind of chicken mom any given hen will be. I tend to like Silkies as broody moms, but you can always get that one mean Silkie, just like you can get the one mean orpington. (I have had a mean Silkie before, too!)

I hope your chicks will be okay.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Sometimes you end up with a bad egg.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I am sorry

Caught one of my call ducks attacking her hatching duckling - it is shocking and traumatic – plus made me very mad. After I pulled her from the hatchling, who was the last egg, I found others “tucked” down the edges of her nest. She must have enjoyed being broody but did not want the responsibility of ducklings.

 

[cat]

We have been very lucky, so far two have hatched and two have pipped!

I was convinced moving the eggs would kill them but they are obviously more resilient than I imagined

 

[jossanne]

Wow, isn't that terrible! I had a buff minorca who went broody and did the same thing. She killed 3 chicks, and I brought one in right as it pushed out of its shell. It died a week later, though, after I bought it friends from the feed store. If that broody tries to go broody again, I'll eat her! She'll never be allowed to set eggs again.

I'm sorry your buff orp was that way. They're supposed to be better. HUGS

 

[FrenchHen]

I'm sooo sorry! Our BO was a bossy old bird from the start. It's hard to be a chicken person sometimes.

 

[dancingbear]

How bizarre! I'm so sorry you had this happen. I've never seen such a thing. The closest is two of my broodies this year, turned into psycho moms, but not to that extreme. One just wanted to continue brooding, and seemed to have no idea what to do with a chick when it hatched. I think she killed them by accident, trying to continue turning them like eggs.
The other tucked the chicks under her, but wouldn't let them ever come out. I had to rescue those. When they escaped from under her, they hid.

I've had several BO's, only one ever brooded.

 

[LuvinMyPeeps]

Have you ever had a broody kill and eat the eggs so there was no trace of them?

My broody's eggs disappeared - they are not in the coop. I'm thinking snake or egg eater, but it's a little wierd that 11 fertile eggs just vanished.

 

[chickenbottom]

This is the end of the road for this hen

so are you culling her. im so sorry what happened. if its her first hatch maybe she didnt expect to have chicks come out of those eggs. i think she deserves another try but dont let her brood again. again im deeply sorry for you.​