Mother hen not caring for chicks?

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Mother hen not calling out or going after her chicks, not looking after them. She sits in coop while chicks do their own thing and I hear them calling out but she doesn't come so I showed them the way back to her.. mother hen did not make a cluck, not a sound.. my other hens always cluck constantly and always are with their chicks by their side.
3 Chicks are a week old now, she stepped on 4th chick and it was dead while hatching.
I have 2 broody hens now in cages, do you think I should stick a chick under one and see or just allow mother hen to keep raising the chicks as is? Or other suggestions?

 

[CJLR]

Im not a expert but i would put them in a brooder with food and water if you dont have a brooder you can use a 50 gallon tub with pine shavings and a heat lamp. If it is cold where you live and the hen does not keep them warm they could freeze

 

[sourland]

Is she still setting on eggs ?

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Is she still setting on eggs ?

No

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Im not a expert but i would put them in a brooder with food and water if you dont have a brooder you can use a 50 gallon tub with pine shavings and a heat lamp. If it is cold where you live and the hen does not keep them warm they could freeze

I don't have heat lamp. But do have hand warmers if I need to separate them. .. I do wonder if I pop them under another broody if she will look after them
It is Summer here but we have some cold days and nights.

 

[CJLR]

I don't have heat lamp. But do have hand warmers if I need to separate them. .. I do wonder if I pop them under another broody if she will look after them
It is Summer here but we have some cold days and nights.

you could try to put them under another broody i would try to do it at night while she is asleep. If the broody does not except them and you need to separate them you could also try hot water bottles or fill a old sock with rice and put it in the microwave for 30 sec

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Is the mothering instinct genetic? So my hens mother could have passed down a bad mothering instinct? - Her mother killed all but 1 of her chicks! I was so upset, it was just one every few days or week till 1 was left, and she didn't really care about them, kept running away or roosting up high so they couldn't reach her!
...I'm a bit worried another broody may kill the chicks if I pop them under because they are already a week old. And the broody ones are only pullets who haven't raised chicks before.
The mother hen seems to be taking the very 'relaxed' parenting approach.. She does allow the chicks to sleep under her at night so she would be keeping them warm then.. During the day I will just have to check on them every hour - I already had to rescue the chicks twice because mother hen had wandered off and the chicks were cheeping but she was not responding to their call or clucking back so I got the chicks and put them near her and they stopped cheeping. .. I won't be allowing this hen to brood again, I have plenty of other Silkies that want to be mums so I'll give them a go next or just allow my old faithful 8 yr old hen who has hatched many chicks and is a great mum - she would brood every few weeks if I let her but I only give her 2 hatches a year a Spring and a Summer hatch.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Does any harm come to chicks that get cold for a short time?
.. Its night time and I just had to run out and rescue another chick, poor little thing must have been cold! Chicks must be more hardy then I think because brooder temps are meant to be really warm for first week especially.. although I never have raised chicks in an incubator but they seem to be ok to not be under mumma hen most of the day.

.. I'm going to confine mother hen and her chicks to the coop for now I think, then she can't loose them!.. I just find it so strange that this hen doesn't cluck cluck all the time for her chicks to follow her, she is just silent besides a half hearted cluck once in a while when she is eating. Weird.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

She's locked in her own area now, no more free ranging with her chicks till their old enough to take care of themselves.. 6 weeks?

 

[CJLR]

yes i think it might just be easier to keep them is the coop until the chicks are able to fend for themself