Momma hen lost all her chicks!

[centrarchid]

ya know... he hasn't pecked any of the chicks! the go into his pen all the time and he lets them be!
would it be safe to keep him pened with his hen and chicks?

Odds are it is not rooster, rather another hen. Peck wounds are hard to spot and lethal floggings are hard to spot. At one end of my cockyard I have several gamehens each penned in her own brood pen. Until last night I had 4 broody hens with chicks that roamed that area of the cockyard. One of the penned brood hens proved to be a serial killer attacking chicks that came into her pen. Death was not always immediate allowing chicks to go some distance before succumbing to injuries. Close inspect was required to see any external damage. Same hen has demonstrated capacity to be model parent. This forced me to collect broody chicks from all four hens to cut losses.

 

[chickletteSarge]

Odds are it is not rooster, rather another hen.  Peck wounds are hard to spot and lethal floggings are hard to spot.  At one end of my cockyard I have several gamehens each penned in her own brood pen. Until last night I had 4 broody hens with chicks that roamed that area of the cockyard.  One of the penned brood hens proved to be a serial killer attacking chicks that came into her pen.  Death was not always immediate allowing chicks to go some distance before succumbing to injuries.  Close inspect was required to see any external damage.  Same hen has demonstrated capacity to be model parent.  This forced me to collect broody chicks from all four hens to cut losses.

yea I have the one hen out loose with her 8 now chicks... she had 10, the silkie is down to 1 from 9 and my brown red is completely wiped out!
my wheaten hen just hatched 5 and is fostering 2 I have her penned in a 4'x8' pen away from the killer momma!

 

[centrarchid]

Another chronic problem is loss of chicks usually between 7 and 21 days to cocci when they are around penned adults. Adults are always shedding cocci and odds are higher a chick will eat a cocci cyst loaded crap when foraging in those areas. Then chick has a hard go because they get infected to fast and hard. I average about 4 chicks per brood in cockyard and about 8 when hen rears brood well away. This even when predator losses are harder to deal with outside of cockyard.

 

[aggiemae]

I would not let a hen that is low in the flock hatch eggs at all.

 

[centrarchid]

In some of these instances rank of mother hen not all that important when she can not intervene when chick enters pen of another hen or the hens do not even know each other because they confined while chicks are not.

 

[Fancychooklady]

no all but 2 were found... one had a broken leg the rest just looked depressed and then later were found dead...
this is my monstars daddy if anyone was wonderin... lol
snakes... never seen any in the neighborhood... if I did id eat good that's for sure!
I have seen falcons chasing the sparrows! but I have a few good roos out in the yard... my gamecock guards the chicks brooding area and the d'Uccle watches over my layers!
the yokohamas are in a pen and he sounds the alarm that gets the other 2 to pay attention!

" looked depressed and later dead " sounds more like cocci!

 

[chickletteSarge]

Is there anything I can give them to help boost their immune systems for this? I don't want my DD to come home to 0chicks!

 

[centrarchid]

Short of selection which will take several generations (I am doing that), easiest short-term way for me has been to feed chicks a medicated feed for the first month or so. The will be exposed but cocci will be suppressed enough for chicks immune system to ramp up.