If I buy a chick, will my hens attack it?

[honda_DT]

I'm interested in ordering some fertilized eggs and was wondering that when they hatch will the hens kill the chick(s)? I was already making plans to buy the said eggs but when someone told me that the other chickens would attack them once they hatched I began to reconsider. (I don't have a rooster)

Thanks for the help

 

[magicpigeon]

Well, you can't keep chicks with older birds... they WILL get pecked however if the hens hatch the eggs themselves I don't see a problem

 

[honda_DT]

That's the plan

I was going to buy 5 fertilised eggs to put under my broody hen, (which will stay with the other chickens in the coop during the process.) And I'm just wondering if the non-mother chickens will attack the chicks?

 

[aubreynoramarie]

A good mama will protect her babies. You're just gonna have to watch and make sure that she is, in fact, a good mama.

 

[honda_DT]

Haha awesome. Ok thanks.

 

[sourland]

The flock will most likely try to attack the chicks. If the mother is high in the pecking order she may be able to protect them.
Unless you have a very large pen or free range, I would not recommend integrating a hen with newly hatched chicks into the flock.

 

[DTRM30]

I think part of it depends on the personalities of the chickens as well. I had a hen that was pretty much lower on the pecking order - and who was not even aggressive toward the other hens when brooding - hatch a clutch and they did just fine. The other hens didn't think much at all of them. I don't have a roo - they were eggs that I bought and placed under her - so there was no roo to help protect them either.

Do keep a careful eye out - though, because as mentioned - some hens are just plain ornery toward chicks.

 

[foxypoproxy]

Out of curiosity will the roo protect the chicks too? or peck them?
or just ignore them?

 

[Judy]

I've had 5 or 6 broodies raise chicks in with the flock now. The other hens haven't actually attacked, but the mama also didn't let them get close enough, she would run them off if they came with a couple of feet of her chicks. My roos have largely ignored the chicks, but have been protective at times, or tried to feed them. JME.

 

[DTRM30]

I honestly can't answer that - never had a roo long enough. I have read, though, that some protect the momma and her babies, - but others have said that their roo was not tolerant of the babies at all. Think it depends on the roo ...
Maybe someone else will have more to add on that subject ... that has expreience with roos in their flock.