I have a broody hen who has adopted all my 11 new baby chicks but ????

[JoeOxfordCT]

I have a Cuckoo Maran hen that has been broody for awhile and I have also just started 11 new chicks of varying breeds from MyPetChicken. I moved the chicks to the coop last week. I only have 3 mature hens right now including the Maran. I thought it was great when the Maran seemed to adopt the baby chicks and watch over them, staying in the pen with them while the two other birds hop the fence and free range in my yard each day.

However, for some reason she does not like one of the baby RIR chicks I have and chases & pecks her. The chicks are a mix of RIRs, Easter Eggers, Delawares, Australorps, & one Jersey Giant baby roo.

I had noticed that the Maran seems to favor the darker colored chicks like herself over the others but I'm concerned about why shes seemed to single out the one RIR chick....I have two RIR chicks ?? What should I do, if anything ??

Puzzled in Oxford, CT.

 

[siroiszoo]

I'm not sure but here's a friendly bump to see if you get more replies.

Hope it works out well.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

I just went out to check on the birds and the RIR chick has a big cut/tear/wound on her butt, no doubt from the broody Maran.....
Should I kick the Maran out of the pen ?

 

[ShrekDawg]

I don't know but I don't think I would kick her out as she seems to be raising the chicks. I would treat/seperate the RIR chick first and then worry about the rest later. Maybe just seperate the RIR chick and/or raise her seperately from the others then reintroduce her to the flock later? Or "punish" the Maran every time she is mean to the RIR chick until she gets the picture/message; You could spray her with water (with a hose or spray bottle or squirt gun or whatever), yell at her, tell her NO firmly everytime, fake "attack' (make it look like you're gonna hit or kick her or scare her or "attack' by making the movements/move without actually touching/hurting her), scare her, use a combo of everything, or whatever to get her to stop. maybe distract her (like from the chick/attack). Do what you need to do but this is what I would do off the top of my head good luck. You could also take metal can fill with rocks shake everytime this is what you do to get dogs to stop barking by scaring them they stop but it would no doubt scare chickens too and work it may scare/startle her and therefore distract her from the attack. Maybe also positive reinforcement? reward her for good behavior, correct her for bad. Then she learns "hey look if I am nice to this chicky I get good things but if I am not nice bad things happen I dont want bad things to happen so I am gonna be nice" and becomes nice. these last few starting at the rocks in the can are kinda somewhat dog related but they can and have been sucessfully been used with other animals too so can be used with chickens. good luck

 

[ShrekDawg]

Be firm with her, assert your dominance (you are the boss and no chickys get hurt, or anybody for that matter). be forceful and be the alpha chick/chicken. good luck

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

I went back out and grabbed the broody Maran and kicked her out of the pen. I have waterers throughout my yard in shady protected spots....it's very hot out today.....I carried her to the farthest waterer and dropped her there......she stayed for awhile but eventually made her way back to the coop/pen. Right now she's not smart enough (like my two other mature hens) to fly up and over the gate to get back in so she's effectively cut off from the chicks. I checked on the chicks and they are all taking dirt baths in the shade underneath the coop.

I am most concerned now with the wound the chick has.....it's about the size of a half dollar. I'm not sure what to do about it or what to do when it gets dark and all the birds go back into the pen.

 

[warmwater]

You have to clean the wound. Put Blu-Kote (antiseptic) on it, if you don't have that I've read where they put neosporin on it. You should remove the chick so the hen can't peck it anymore.....But, if you remove the chick till the wound heals she won't accept it.

So, I would take 3 chicks out and raise them seperate (one chick would get lonely and it would be harder to reintroduce just the one).

Now that it has a wound the hen will peck at it more and sooner or later the little ones would start...chickie see-chickie do. Hope everything works out for you and your little RIR.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

I brought the chick inside and put neosporin on the wound. I had kept an eye on her behavior all afternoon and she seemed to continue to act ok and eat, scratch, & free range in our pen which is currently overgrown with grass & weeds. I kept the broody Maran out of the pen until it was getting dark and when I finally let her in she went straight for her nesting box which is where she spends her nights. She had spent much of the afternoon pacing around the outside of the pen.

Tomorrow morning very early I will get up and kick her out again......I will put some more Neosporin on the RIR chick's butt too. I'm guessing I'll probably do this until next weekend when I'll be home and then I'll see how the Maran Mom is doing and then maybe I'll let her be with the chicks again....?

 

[cmom]

Quote:
That sounds like a good plan. I'm trying to break a broody. All she wants do eggs or no eggs is sit in a nest. Tomorrow she goes into the chicken jail. I hate to do it but I already have some 7 week old chicks. I thought about putting her in with them but there are 25 chicks.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm confused by your post. How old are the chicks? And is your broody hen already setting on a clutch of eggs? Or is she just acting broody but you're not letting her set? Is that why she adopted the chicks? Was she clucking to & scratching food for them, keeping them gathered around her, bedding down with them under her wings at night? I'd like to know more details.

If she really was tending to them well, I'd leave her with them, but just take out the chick she was pecking. I certainly would not use any of those methods to punish or reprimand her for pecking the chick, I do not think they would be effective, but only frighten & confuse her. She must have her own reasons for rejecting that chick, the little voices in her head are telling her to do that and no amount of punishment will change her behavior.

If the hen was only showing some interest, but not really tending to the chicks as a mother hen would, then I'd just keep the chicks separate from all the hens until they're grown. The injured chick could be returned to the group of chicks once its wound healed. Chicks really need their own kind of feed, different from layer feed.

If your Marans wants to go broody you can either let her set a clutch of eggs or put her in a wire cage & break her spell. It usually only takes 3-4 days and then she'll be back to her regular programming.