Mamma hurting chicks! Help!

RachRed

In the Brooder
5 Years
Feb 5, 2014
69
4
49
I let a broody chicken hatch some eggs (my first time doing so). Now that they are coming out, she has pecked two of them! There is a small wound on each of them (w blood). Should I take the hurt ones away to an impromptu brooder?! Should I take all of them or just observe. I'm afraid she will kill her babies :(
 
I observed more and one of my other birds attacked the chicks! So I think it wasn't momma after all. I think her pecking was more gentle/bossing the chicks around (is that a thing?). I locked the other girls out of the coop and I'm working on section one off a part of the run and prepping a dog crate for their new home. Any tips? This is stressing me out!

Also she abandoned 3 unhatched eggs to care for her biddies. I got them back under her, but they were cooled :( could they still hatch?
 
The broody hen will usually nudge and shove her chicks with her beak. Usually they sit on the eggs probably up to 2 days after hatch (atleast my game bird does) the other chickens will peck at the chicks usually the mom hen will protect them though.
Just keep an eye on the eggs that haven't hatched yet make sure the membrane hasn't dryed up since the mom has been off of them . If she leaves the best for good I'd just help the chicks hatch out and put them under her, they should adjust fine
 
2 chicks have visible bloody spots from the peck attack. Are they too small for blue kote? Do I need to separate them?
 
I have never used blue kote so I'm not sure
I'd leave them with their mom maybe seperate the pens (her from other older chickens) for a couple of days until she has her chicks dry and is ready for them to eat and drink with her. She should be real protective of them
 
I have never used blue kote so I'm not sure
I'd leave them with their mom maybe seperate the pens (her from other older chickens) for a couple of days until she has her chicks dry and is ready for them to eat and drink with her. She should be real protective of them

Apply a little Blue Kote with a Q-tip.

It is rare for a setting hen to harm HER chicks but sometimes they do for reasons known only to the hen.

To all the other hens in the flock a baby chick is just another chicken intent on usurping that bird's place in the pecking order.

I've said it before and it bares repeating, a hen that has successfully hatched a clutch of eggs will do ALL of her babies' heavy fighting for them. Chicks are not a danger to a roosters sexual access to hens and as a result roosters sometimes will ever "semi-adopt" chicks.

Blue - Kote is intended to hide or mask the color of blood which encourages hens to press home the attack.
 
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Thank you both so much! I'm giving momma hen and biddies the coop to themselves tonight and have a big dog crate and small run I'll move them to tomorrow. I'll q tip the blue kote when I move them.

Also, at least one of the last 3 eggs has hatched...yay!
 
Thank you both so much! I'm giving momma hen and biddies the coop to themselves tonight and have a big dog crate and small run I'll move them to tomorrow. I'll q tip the blue kote when I move them.

Also, at least one of the last 3 eggs has hatched...yay!

Good thing you gave them their own area. Not only does it protect the chicks but by penning the chicks in with mama she has the chance to hatch out the remaining eggs. If the chicks are running over the coop she has to watch/protect them and is sometimes forced to abandon eggs that are trying to hatch out.
 

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