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trisha121

In the Brooder
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Hello, I am new to forum and to the crazy world of chickens. Lol Im a huge animal lover and recently moved back home w my mom. My mother has 4 hens and 1 rooster and is fairly new to the chicken world also. This her third flock. Her past 2 flocks were small as well and were both depleted by local wildlife. I joined this forum to learn about chickens but mainly to get advice about a mamma hen and her eggs/babies. So many questions??? My biggest concern is that the momma ate her second chick. I went to check on her and see if anymore chicks hatched yet and found half a chicken thrown out of her nest. What should we do??? Is there a reason she would do this? Should we be concerned for the rest of her chicks. She has another 24 eggs under her. We didnt realise that all the chickens werw laying under her for the past three weeks. We moved her and her basket of eggs to her own hen house on day 19 from when she started brooding. 2 days later her first egg hatched. I fear that we did so many things wrong here. Does anyone have any advise on what to do about her eating her baby chick? Is she going to keep doing this? Its so heartbraking and awful. Why wld she let one live and kill the second? I assume she killed it during its hatch bc it was still wet and curled up. I dont even like thinking about it and just dont want it to happen again. Is she killing her babies bc we of something were doing wrong? Is this common? Any suggestions or feedback will be much appreciated.
 
Hello and :welcome We’re all chicken mad here and there’s loads of friendly, knowledgeable members who will be pleased to help when needed or simply just chat about all things chicken!

I’m a hatchaholic but I use incubators so I’m not really qualified to give advice on naturally raised chicks. Hopefully someone else will chirp in or you could try posting your questions on the “Raising & hatching chicks” forum :thumbsup
 
Joeschooks said:
Hello and :welcome We’re all chicken mad here and there’s loads of friendly, knowledgeable members who will be pleased to help when needed or simply just chat about all things chicken!

I’m a hatchaholic but I use incubators so I’m not really qualified to give advice on naturally raised chicks. Hopefully someone else will chirp in or you could try posting your questions on the “Raising & hatching chicks” forum :thumbsup
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Thank you. I will post my questions there now!
 
Sounds like she has way too many eggs under her. Is she a large fowl Chicken or small breed? She may be overwhelmed. More likely with so many eggs dumped on her by other hens, hatch dates will be staggered.
There may have been something very wrong with the chick she ate. Hopefully she doesn't plan to eat any more.

Are you making her leave the nest at least a couple times a day. She has to have a chance to eat, drink and use the bathroom. Some broody hens refuse to leave and you have to PUT them out.

Is this her first time being broody? If so I would take half the eggs away and put in an incubater. If she kills another one, I would take all the eggs away from her.
 
drumstick diva said:
Sounds like she has way too many eggs under her. Is she a large fowl Chicken or small breed? She may be overwhelmed. More likely with so many eggs dumped on her by other hens, hatch dates will be staggered.
There may have been something very wrong with the chick she ate. Hopefully she doesn't plan to eat any more.

Are you making her leave the nest at least a couple times a day. She has to have a chance to eat, drink and use the bathroom. Some broody hens refuse to leave and you have to PUT them out.

Is this her first time being broody? If so I would take half the eggs away and put in an incubater. If she kills another one, I would take all the eggs away from her.
Click to expand...
Sheshe was getting up and stretching her legs outside once a day but now that she started hatching we thought we should keep her closed in. She is a good sized rhode island red i think. They are my moms hens and my mom was admitted into hospital today so now im in charge of the flock. Should i open her door to let her out of the coup to stretch her legs. Im just nervous her baby will follow and she might eat her too. Im so nervous and yes she has too many eggs. Im scared that maybe my mother disturbed her nest too much and that is why she ate it? Im also afraid that if i disturb her eggs and take some she might just eat the rest.
This is her second time brooding. But my neighbor had her during this process last time. she only had three eggs and only 2 made it. We took her after the chicks were a few days old and she was the best mama. I think she might be overwhelmed. When the first chick was born she looked like she was pecking him and it made me nervous but i guess she was just eating the eggshell. Thank u for respondingm
 
Greetings and welcome to BYC! So glad you joined us. I hope some of the broody experts will help you. Congrats on your new start with chickens. I hope you've upgraded the security of the coop/run to prevent further/future losses. There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home!

PLEASE put at least your general location in your profile. It could be very important if/when you ask for or offer help or advice. You know, climate issues and such. I recommend at least your state as most folks won't be able to figure out where if you put anything more specific (county, town, street, etc) by itself. Old folks like me :old will never remember & look there first. To add it, mouse hover over Account top right and a drop down will appear. Click on Personal Details and scan down. You'll see the spot for Location. Then go to the bottom and save changes. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the site!
 
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G'Day from down under Trisha... :frowWelcome!

Sometimes a mumma hen will peck or push one of her babies out of the nest because she instinctively knows there is something wrong with it; especially if she is only doing it to one chick and taking wonderful care of the others.

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)

You might want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.
 

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