Is my hen killing chicks?

[Astap788]

I have 2 brooding hens. I didn't separate because it started out with one and s they didn't seem to be aggressive toward each other and were on opposite sides of the coop. So several chicks hatched and 2 did just fine. They are following one hen around everywhere and could not be better. The thing is two others hatched around the same time as well as a third hen started brooding and she is very aggressive. These two ended up dead, I figured it was because their eggs were smashed when I tried to retrieve them so I could put them under the other one as the first had given up on sitting on her eggs and left with the chicks. Now I'm wondering if she's staying under the coop with her chicks to keep them away from the aggressive one. So at this point its been about a week and the two still brooding kind of just sit in their places all day minding their own business, that is, until I get home today and they've switched places and there's a dead chick with in with the aggressive one. So what I can piece together she killed the chick and then sits on the other chickens eggs. The other chicken then took over her eggs. I'm gonna separate but should I just give all the eggs to the less aggressive one to eliminate the chance of a repeat.

Also the chicks insides were coming out its backside, does that seem right or might it have just hatched undeveloped and I'm just reading too much into it?

Thanks! Sorry for being suck a newbie

 

[Elise Lefort]

Well perhaps it did not absorb its yolk, but i think separating is a really good idea.

 

[barred2rock]

Does anyone else smell chicken stew brewing?

 

[abraga]

If the chicks mistakenly choose the wrong mama...then yes...the hen on eggs probly pecked them to death to keep them away from her eggs. The chicks probly instinctively probly tried to cuddle up to her. Since you have chicks hatching under different hens at different times u should separate them...because chicks may loose thier mom and try to approach another mama. Also...chicks can be aggressive towards other chicks not a part of thier little " flock". Newly hatched chicks will often try to get up under another hen if they loose mama..they get stressed/confused and don't know any better.

 

[abraga]

If the chicks mistakenly choose the wrong mama...then yes...the hen on eggs probly pecked them to death to keep them away from her eggs. The chicks probly instinctively probly tried to cuddle up to her. Since you have chicks hatching under different hens at different times u should separate them...because chicks may loose thier mom and try to approach another mama. Also...chicks can be aggressive towards other chicks not a part of thier little " flock". Newly hatched chicks will often try to get up under another hen if they loose mama..they get stressed/confused and don't know any better.

Most hens will keep the babies away from the main flock until the chicks are stronger. So that's why ur hen is staying under the shed. Best thing for hens with chicks is to give them thier own safe space until the chicks are strong enough to deal with the main flock. I don't know how big your coop/run is...if you have a small run..the older chickens will kill/eat chicks.

 

[ChuSayBok]

I had a problem like this; 2 broody hens, one new, one a veteran. They would steal eggs from each other back when I was letting nature take its course and the hens were laying and going broody as they wished (yes, if I had it to do over again I would have separated them so that this couldn't happen..) The veteran hen was a great mother; the other was killing the chicks that didn't escape her one at a time. Since they were hatching at intervals and I wasn't there to micromanage, I would just find dead chicks. 2 suffocated, the rest (I think 3-4) had their ear pecked out or with the skin on their heads totally scalped. After watching her, I noticed that she would jealously guard new hatchlings (not letting them out from under her, which was probably the reason for the ones that appeared suffocated.) If they did get out, she would peck at them mercilessly until they retreated back under her (which is what I suspect was the cause of the scalping, tho I didn't actually witness it; when I removed her from the coop, it didn't happen again.) I managed to rescue a few and give them to the better mother. She is with another owner now (who was properly warned.) Hopefully she will do better without competition.

I had an older hen that pulled the entire skin off the back of a chick's neck that I had hatched (this was the first time I had introduced my new babies to my grown babies and seen this type of aggression, normally they just give warning pecks if the little guys get too close to the food when they are eating.) Fortunately the chick was higher than avg IQ and figured out quickly not to let her brood mates see her vulnerability; she would turn that side away from them when they eating and such. I removed her and let her stay in the house (turned bathroom into chicken ICU for a couple of nights) and reintroduced her to her brood at night when they couldn't see the open flesh wound (which is an open invitation for a chicken to turn cannibal for some reason.) Eventually it healed (scar tissue) and feathers won't grow on the spot, but the others almost cover it most of the time. She has since become a mother herself