mother hen killed a baby chick today

[fisher07]

My broody hens eggs arnt due for another 5 days,but 1 starting hatching today.. as the baby chick was coming out she grabbed it and killed it!! it was horrible!! would she have done this because she knew something we dont or is she going to do this to her babies when they hatch?? help as i dont have an incubator as a back up plan..

 

[math ace]

Wow - that is sad.

I haven't hatch any chickens yet - - so I can not say for sure.

However, with other animals cats / dogs ,
if it is their first litter and they "freak" out they can and do kill their first born simply because they are afraid, stressed, hurting, and inexperienced.
Litters after the first one seem to go fine without issues, but that first one can go bad.

Somebody else will need to confirm if this scenario is possible with chickens.

 

[fisher07]

I was thinking well hoping that maybe it got cracked by her somehow and she knew it wasn't ready or ok??? I'm going to call someone tomorrow as I'm worried she may kill the others.. I have heard og dogs doing that..thanx for your help and I'll keep you posted..

 

[MareeZoCool]

so sad. Does she have plenty of food in easy reach?

 

[fisher07]

Yep she does have plenty of food water,and I've even been making sure she has fresh greens etc each morning..I thought she was going to help the chick out of the shell,then she just grabbed it and turfed it out of the nest and pecked it a couple of times and it was then dead.. It was so quick my husband and I couldn't do anything.. We have 5 kids and I'm so glad they weren't there!! Mother nature can be cruel..

 

[fisher07]

Hi .. I rang the poultry assoc today and they said that if there is blood then they go back to being caniballs.. Mmm.. As too my question of if she will kill the babies, we don't know..I wish I had an incubator I'd just take them all from her.. They are due in 4 days so he said to watch her as best i can and if she does do it again then take the eggs and put them under my other broody hen..but hers have already began to hatch so she may not except them.. Oh well I'll just have to wait.. I'll keep you posted..

 

[nancypo]

I woild just put them inside the house somewhere nice and warm. For our chicks I used a 150 watt red reptile light, a cardboard box and papertowels to start. I would seperate them for sure, so sad....