Mama hen pecking at hatching babies

[lillyneedshelp]

I have this hen, sweetest little thing, and we let her hatch her own eggs. They're hatching today and she's been pecking at the pipping hole of one egg. If we turn the egg upside-down so she can't see the hole she slides it under her like normal. There's already one dead baby that died while hatching and we're not sure what happened to it. She is a first time mother if that helps, and I can't tell if she's pecking at the actual baby or the egg shell. Help!!

 

[sourland]

sorry for the problem. Is there any way that you can darken the nest site so that she can not see the eggs? Then once all have hatched allow her to see them and monitor closely. Not all hens are good mothers, and some need to learn.

 

[lillyneedshelp]

sorry for the problem. Is there any way that you can darken the nest site so that she can not see the eggs? Then once all have hatched allow her to see them and monitor closely. Not all hens are good mothers, and some need to learn.

yes I can do that, would it stress mama out to bring her inside?

 

[microchick]

I have had hens do that and as @sourland stated, not all hens are good mothers. Some are good brooders and rotten mothers.

Another option you could try, if you have an incubator, you can carefully move the eggs to the incubator, let them hatch in safety and then slide the chicks under mom when it it dark and she cannot see them. If you do that, I would make sure and monitor the hen to make sure she doesn't continue to peck at the babies and injure/kill them.

Some hens are startled by the movement under them and react to the movement by pecking. I've had to remove eggs from under hens that do that and put them under another broody with eggs due to hatch at the same time. As a rule, I don't let hens that peck eggs or chicks brood again.