mother hen ate newly hatched chick

[snaphu]

I have a young broody cochin sitting on 4 eggs that are hatching as I type this... last night the first one hatched, and the mother hen ate the shell. This morning I went to check on her and the new chick etc. and the chick was gone, there was some last bit of bloody tissue that the mother hen was eating.

I have her and the eggs in a very secure broody box, so there is no chance of anything getting at them... Now I'm worried she will eat the remaining newly hatched eggs? should I take them out and put under heat lamps as soon as they are hatched?

 

[shadowpaints]

sad! i have a hen that does this also, but she eats them as they pip, so i take the eggs from her on day 19 and put them in the bator.
so sorry, but i would remove the remaining eggs if you can... and put them in the bator, or if you dont have a bator, remove them as soon as they hatch, even if they are wet still..

 

[snaphu]

I have been watching the broody hen for the last few hours with another newly hatched baby chick... no incidence until the baby tried to get out from under her, she pecked at it really hard! then she did it again, and I moved it to a separate heated brooder pen.

There are 3 more eggs under her... should I let them hatch under her? or should I wait and watch?

 

[rosiethechicken]

Sorry to hear that. My first time broody killed all 3 chicks recently (one stomped, one pecked and third killed while in the egg).

I thought I will separate her and give 3 more eggs. She sat again for 3 more weeks. But on day 19, found an egg with blood on it.
That chick died after saying under light bulb for few hours.

I took remaining two eggs and put them under 40W bulb. One hatched within 12 hours and waiting on second one - no movement inside yet.
We are heartbroken at the loss and excited with one chick at the same time.

I was thinking about giving the chick to broody, but may be thats bad idea.

 

[chicken delighted]

so sory to hear of your loss

i hate losing the small ones
i had that happen once this year my astrople attacked her frist chick so bad he did not make it .
i drove her off the nest with a broom

i could have made fried chicken that day. i sat their with a heat lamp waiting for the rest to hatch.( did not have a incubator them) and she came back looking forlorn i told her 1 more chance or i will make a nice dinner out of you she looked at me went over to the nest and hatched out 7 chicks and has been a good mom.
call me crazy but them darn chickens understand more then we give them credit for. especially when you use the words like dinner,fried,ax
dont get me wrong i love my chickens but i will not tolerat bad attidutes, it cause to many problems.
i would be very carefull about giving her chicks, id watch her like a hawk.

 

[snaphu]

this young broody cochin has never been social or friendly... I'm wondering if my presence around her, watching her hatch the eggs made her vicious to her newly hatched?

 

[FeatheredObsessions]

I would move the eggs as soon as you have a place. If you have the incubator move the eggs. If only a brooder as soon as they hatch. Sorry she doesn't have that mothering instinct

 

[snaphu]

thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

the surviving chick is doing really well

there are 2 more eggs... I will take them from the broody hen asap!

 

[rosiethechicken]

Amazing. From my 3 eggs, the one that survived is doing as well, so congratulations.
I hope my lone chick grows up to be healthy hen.

 

[Crickett B]

My turkey is doing the same thing

If she happens to move, and see a chick trying to hatch it, she kills it and eats it. This is her first time hatching eggs. What I have been doing is checking on her, and if I see a egg in the process of hatching, I remove it. So far I've been able to save 2 turkey chicks, and 4 baby chicks 17 eggs to go.

I was gone for 10 days and my wonderful other half did not realize that the chickens were laying in Pearl's nest, when she wasn't in there. I came home to 28 eggs in the nest! I have no clue which were the ones I put there, or the chickens put there, so I am just impatiently waiting to see what happens. Which was the main reason I started checking Pearl, since I had read that after about 48 hours of the first chick hatching, she'd quit sitting, and how I discovered that she was eating them as they hatched.

I try to wait till the last possibly minute to snag the egg, as I don't have a incubator and when I but them under a normal light bulb the membrane dries quickly and I have had 4 stuck that I had to help by moistening the membrane with water and peeling off part of the shells.