I’m sorry that your hen is behaving badly!Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!
I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:
Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.
Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.
Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?
Thanks for any help you can give.
