Mother Hen

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LilFaz

LilFaz

Hatching
6 Years
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
9
Helloooo, I am not sure what I am doing or if I am even posting my question on the right page? haha

One of my small chickens (Old English Game Bantams) had some chicks, one died as she/he was born too early and then only one survived out of all of the eggs, the other eggs being duds i suppose.
Well now this chick has died and the mum is in some serious mourning. I was hoping anyone had any help for me to help this chicken feel better, grieve quicker?

She keeps calling for the chick and puffing up so the chick can hide in her wings. Its completely heart breaking, I will be feeding her marmite on toast with cuddles as I have heard they love marmite.

I joined this website for help on this question, but I always seemed to find myself on here before I joined for help on other topics.

I have ten chickens all together, all being a bit crazy and they all love cuddles.
 
Greetings, LilFaz, and
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! Great to have you with us! Sorry to hear about your losses! I typed in the words 'mourning chicken' into the BYC search bar and several threads came up. You might give it a try to see what others have attempted. Good luck to you!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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You might try moving her into a different pen or cage for a few days, often a change of location can give the bird something different to think about.
 
Thank you I will have a look now :) we have an enclosure within an enclosure.. its difficult to explain, but we do have another one which i can move her in to. but she will be with different hens, I dont want them to pick on her with what she is going through. she seems fine atm, i gave her some toast and cuddles and now she only seems to start calling for the chick when i leave, so maybe me annoying her takes her mind off of it. I have work soon though so i cant cuddle her all day :(

Would she need to be kept away from a cockeral for now? or will it be ok as long as he leaves her alone?
 
Is there any way you could get your hands on a couple of day old chicks at this time? Maybe you could get some day old chicks and slip them under her at night. It sounds like she wants to be a good momma hen.
 
I was thinking earlier maybe get some chicks for her. But wont be able tp for a few days now and wont thay be too late? She seems to have clung on to me now. Just went to see if she was ok as she has been moved in to the other enclosure and she gets asclose to me as she can. The other chicken pecked her and she flew straight on to my lap and hid her head under my cardigan. I will see her as much as i can now and give her cuddles for comfort. She has been socialising with the other chickens too. But of course i will keep an eye on them all.
 
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Sounds like she would be a perfect mama. Any chance you can round up a couple fertile eggs for her to sit on. You could slip them in at night and she'd think they were hers and go back to being a broody.

Are you from Australia or New Zealand? Just a wild guess.
 
Im from England! Lol. Thanks for your advice. I will discuss t with the family tomorrow.
 

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